Out to the KWA Common spirit Al Hotline and bring on voice in the Rockies,
Jack Corgan, Jack, how are you doing this evening? I am
good, Benjamin Ho or you guys doing doing real well. I always love
hearing your voice, man, And you know, baseball right around the corner.
In fact, we had that that shell acking today. I guess that
kind of opened up all the spring training stuff. Nick and I were talking
a little bit about the Rockies last night and one of the things that it
kind of be funneled us and maybe it's just our amateur eyes at it,
but you know, with some baseball teams, you can clearly see the plan.
You understand the plan. You could see the plan, you know what
it is you go from there, and with the Rockies, we're just not
able to put our finger on exactly what that is and what that has been
over the last couple of seasons. Would you agree with that sentiment or do
you do you see the plan here and see kind of what it is that
they're trying to do. Well, that's a great question, and I'm sure
you guys that some wonderful conversation about it and some insight from all all the
fans who listened to the show, I would say it is from an internal
perspective, starting to come a lot more into focus. I think one of
the things in baseball, especially when you're a draft and develop team like the
Rockies have to be, is, you know, quite honestly, at least
from a pitching perspective, it's rare that you're going to get a veteran pitcher
that's going to come and face the challenges of pitching half as games at altitudes,
so you can appreciate that. But I think from what you can see
underneath from the position players who are a little bit ahead of the pitchers at
this point, in part due to some unfortunate injuries last year with some of
the young pitching prospects. But just like any sports organization guys at the professional
level, you know, it's all about trying to build depth, and I
think the Rocks are finally onto a plan of what type of pictures to bring
in or to develop and what type of players they want to have. And
to be honest that we can talk about a little bit. I think the
new rules in baseball over the last year and now into its second season are
creating a look for a different type of player, or maybe going back to
the more athletic player that was there, you know, thirty thirty plus years
ago before everybody became a masher or tried to become a home run slugger.
Well, Jack, there are two players that I am really intrigued by,
you know right now. It is left handed pitcher Joe Rock and Carlston Pomquist.
And both of those guys played in Double A and B. Black has
an interesting way that he wants to work them in and as getting them wars
starting pitching. You know in the Cactus League. What are you expecting from
either two of these pitchers? And do you think at some point that the
Rockets would get to a point where they bring them up to the majors?
Yeah, you know it's Nick, It's they are going to be interesting guys
to watch. I think right now palmp Quist is a little bit further along
than Joe Rock because he's an interesting guy. You always want to get left
handers when you can get hit them. He throws from I don't want to
say a unique arm slot, but it's not strictly side arm. It's not
really three quarters. It's kind of in between, you know, they call
it low three quarters. But usually guys who throw like that work down in
the zone, which isn't always the worst thing at coursefield to get ground balls.
But pump Quist when he was at the University of Miami. When he
was at the U, he had the ability not only to be able to
work in the lower part of the strike zone, but command a fastball in
the upper part of the strike zone and out of that arm angle. It
presents a real challenge, certainly when it's left on left him being a left
hander. You know, those are the guys you know, and Joe Rocky.
You know, I'm curious to see them. I watched them throw some
bullpens earlier this past week, and you know, you can see there's talent
there. They've been challenged, the Rockies because three guys last year, most
especially Gabriel Hughes Out a Gonzaga who was their number one pick two years ago.
They would be guys who are probably fighting for one of the spots that
now were I don't want to say rushing, but you're looking at guys like
tom Quist and rock and a few others maybe being forced along a little faster,
because, to be honest, I would have thought Hughes would be a
guy we'd be talking about for the rotation this year, but he had Tommy
john surgery midway through last year, and I mean we probably won't see him
until the twenty five season at the earliest. You know, there's an interesting
battle I think for the closer that's gonna go on. Here. You got
Justin Lawrence who stepped in after Pierce Johnson last year. You got Tyler Kinley
who stepped in for him after he had kind of a skid late. Daniel
Bard could work back into the rotation, you know a little bit later.
In terms of what direction that could go. What do you think you show
these guys last year? I thought Lawrence looked good initially and then you know,
kind of hit that skin. I guess in August, I thought Kelly
showed some promise. What do you what do you think about those two and
then possibly barred, you know when he comes back. Yeah, I think
you know, Daniel's going to be back earlier than later from what the initial
fears were. I mean, when they went in to worry about his knee,
the meniscus was fine. It was just kind of clearing up some loose
particles. So I mean, I would think Daniel should be back at the
big league level without any setbacks by the end of April, maybe into May.
That's just my amateur medical opinion, but talking to him and other people
doesn't sound like it's going to be a you know, a real long stretch
before he's able to pitch. I'm intrigued by the battle. I mean,
Lawrence wants to be a closer. He talks about it all the time.
You know, he was born in Panama, so he's always wanted to be
like the great Panamanian Mariano Rivera, one of the greatest closers in baseball history,
if not the greatest. And so you always love guys, Nick,
You know that as teammates and people you competed against. You love guys who
want the job. And that's certainly, you know, a benefit to Lawrence.
And the meek sweeper that he throws and his arm angle, those are
all things that can help him. I think when teams got a little more
comfortable with him, or at least more familiar with him is probably the better
word. And he had a couple of tough outings. I think he tinkered
too much instead of just staying with who he is. And as for Tyler
Kinley, man, if I had him on a football team, if I
had him military uniform next to me, I'd be the happiest guy. There
is nobody tougher on this team, you know, mentally and physically than Tyler
Kinley. So you know, I think I think Bud might mix and match
a little bit depending on what he thinks is going to provide a better matchup
for him. But I think those two, certainly in the first month,
are going to share the job. You know, we'll see, you know,
if that changes in terms of how Bud wants to play it. And
then when Daniel comes along, it'd be great to have, you know,
your seven, eight and nine innings with three guys who have closing experience,
and Lucas Gilbert's going to be part of that mix. To the kid from
Legacy High schools looked good coming back from his Tommy john So what's that being
said? And you mentioned it, Tommy Johns, and we saw you know,
Cis Taylor, her mama, Kaz Feldner, all those guys sustain injuries,
and I know you can't put players in bubble wrap. Well, is
there anything that the Rockies and bub Black could do to ensure that maybe midway
through the season they are more healthy in twenty twenty four than he were last
year. Yeah, you know, that's a great point, Nick. I
think it's the point that all pro sports talk about in baseball, in particular
with pitchers, because you know, the reality of pitching at this level,
the highest level, Your arm has only so many throws in it from you
know, the effort and the angles that a pitcher has to throw, and
it's usually not a question of if a pitcher gets hurt in his career,
it's win. And that really is the case. It was interesting last year
the Rockies, said Gilberth, Senstela, and Marcus all have Tommy Johnson at
the major league level. Hughes and two other of our better prospects at the
minor league level also have Tommy Johnson. Say, oh my god, six
guys at DJ for the Rockies. Do you know the doctor Meisner. I
think his name is. I might be messing that up, but he's in
the Dallas Fort Worth area now. He's kind of the Tommy john guru guy
where everybody sends their pictures too, and he did. All six of the
Rockies guys he's been keeping track of Tommy john surgery since the two thousand and
six Steam season, and I think in that stretch it's you know, it's
like eight years or whatever, and the Rockies have had twenty some Tommy Johns
and they had the fewest of any team in baseball over that stretch, So
I mean, it happens. I think one of the things we're seeing maybe
Nick a little more this year, and evidenced by guys like pump Quist and
Rock and some of the others certainly here early on, is that they're bringing
guys along more slowly. The Diamondbacks talked about the race, you know,
Zach Gallon and Merrill Kelly. They're gonna probably not have them pitch in a
spring training game until maybe the last week or two because they're hopeful of going
deep into the playoffs again and they don't want to overwork them and perhaps increase
the possibility of injury. But bottom line is, guys are bigger, they're
stronger, they grow harder, they try and spin the ball more, and
the body only has so much. It's like in football, how many you
know, when I was the old guy like me, nobody ever had a
tectoral muscle tear or a fight that care to wipe the guy out for the
year, right, and now every team has a couple of them because guys
are just bigger, stronger. They're asking their bodies to do things that some
ligaments and tendons just can't handle. That's just human nature. You know,
Jack, I want to ask you about when you turned your leather helmet in
and swap that out for baseball, But no, I hit that single bar
helmet back when it was the everybody helmet. I love it. We were
talking about different different camp battles out here for the Rockies. One of the
other things I think he's interesting what are they going to do in right field?
I mean, obviously we're having a lot of changes here. Chris Bryant
moving the first, Charlie Blackman probably gonna be bulk of his time at d
H and you got Nolan, Jones and Brent and Doyle to the other to
outfield spots. You've got the sham Brochard I think probably has the upper hand.
Quil Fernandez, you know, what do you what do you see going
on right field? Because uh and and Brochard, it feels like would be
to me, would be the guy just because you know, he gets on
base, you know, quite a bit, and the Rockies had such a
such a problem with that, you know, a three ten on base percentage
last yearly five teams had a lower mark than that, and the Rocks play
half that game obviously here and of course field what do you think about the
right field slot there? Yeah, I think, you know, Benjamin,
that's really I think that the question or the battle of the spring, because
it really is wide open. Yeah, Charlie wants to play out there a
little, but he didn't want to d H all those games. He just
feels like he's more involved in the game when he's playing defense as well.
I don't know how often he'll play defensively at home, but you know,
in places at C level and pretty conventional in terms of the size of their
outfield, you might see Charlie out there once in a while. I don't
think they want to send Chris out there too much. Just trying to see
if they can keep Brian healthy for the first time in his contract as it
enters year three, trying to give him every help in that regard. But
you know what, if Lauris Montero just is killing the ball in spring training.
You don't want to have him not be in the lineup. Then those
are the issues. But all that being said, you're exactly right. The
guy who has I think as well, the best chance of being that right
fielder is Bouchard because of his ability to draw walks, good sense of the
strike zone, you know, help, and good contact. I think you'd
hope he'll have a little bit more power because you expect in a corner outfield
spot, you know, you'd like to have, especially half the games in
Denver, you kind of hold your right fielder's going to have, you know,
twenty homers at you know, fifteen at the very least, and of
course was shown we've not seen him for a whole year. But is on
base percentage on a team that needs more bodies on base, that's a real
plus. In Bouchard's case, totally kind of has some issues, especially from
the right side as a switch hitter. He has to clean that up to
have a shot. Fernandez is going to be a has chance to be a
star. A young Cuban kid, big kid, you know, twenty one
years old, doesn't turn twenty two until I think New Year's Eve or something.
But he's pretty green. I think he's going to be a double A
at least start the year. But he'll be fun to watch here in spring
training. Is he's pretty impressive in the batting cage. So what happens with
Chris Bryant? And I know he's battled through some injuries, but let's just
say he is finally healthy. Expectations for Chris Bryant the season, you know,
I think Nick, if he's healthy, I'm not going to say he's
going to get back to you know, his MDP year, it would be
great, but I would fully anticipate that he rises to you know, kind
of the expected numbers. I think he's a two eighty to three hundred hitter
when he's healthy, with an on base percentage in the upper threes to maybe
four. He's got a terrific eye at the plate. I think you could
expect him to hit you know, twenty twenty five homers and hit, you
know, knock in eighty to one hundred runs. I mean, I think
that's what you could anticipate. It's not going to be at an MVP level,
but when you have not had much from him at all because of the
injuries for two years, I mean, that'd be a real big boost because
it's when he's healthy. It's like Todd Hill towards the end of his career
was not the Todd Helton who was you know, as feared hitter as anybody
in the National League, but the other side still feared him in clutch situations
and other things. You know, it's like, Okay, when's Helton coming
up? Do we need to pitch around of that kind of thing? And
I think a healthy Chris Bryant starts to give you that presence again and takes
pressure off the Nolan jones Is and the Ryan McMahon's of the world and that
kind of thing. That's certainly the hope. I tell you, just as
a quick aside talking to Hansley Muelein's are the Rockies hitting coach and a guy
that Jerry and I really love talking to who regarding hitting. He thinks Ezekiel
Tovar is going to have a big year offensively, So I'd be excited because
the kid he knows how to pick it at short you're Gold Glove finalist as
a rookie. That's pretty aren't good And if he can get like Hensley thinks
he does this is gonna be Obviously, they got to stay healthy and they're
in the toughest division along with the American League East in baseball, and so
that's going to be a challenge. But this is a better team if they're
healthy, They're going to be a much more competitive team than they were a
year ago. They're gonna be a fun team to watch. Looking forward to
it. Jack, got about thirty seconds left, real quick, Any chance
we see Sterling Thompson or Chase Dollander. I know they wanted to work on
getting his slider back since he tried to convert to the sweeper and it failed.
Any chance we see the one of them to this year, and we
got about thirty seconds left. Yeah, I think you're gonna you know,
you're gonna see Dolander get little taste of what he can be, and he'll
be a guy that they'll push to go through quickly through the system. I
think Jordan Beck and Sterling Thompson are both good young hitters that have a chance
not only here in spring training, but maybe the knock on the door by
season's end be fun to see. Absolutely, Jack, we always appreciate the
times at Corgan's gonna be on the call. I believe it's tomorrow, correct,
right, you're on k Wait. First game, Yeah, playing the
National League champ Diamondbacks one o'clock tomorrow. Looking forward to it. Time to
get back in the saddle, guys, Absolutely well. I'll have the ill
tuned in, looking forward to hearing your call tomorrow one exclusively right here on
KOA. That's that Corgan voice of the Rockies.