5 Things We Learned at Rockies Fest

Last weekend, RockiesFest returned for the first time since 2019, and it was pretty glorious. Coors Field was open for exploration, ballpark food was available for purchase, and players, staff, and Dinger signed autographs and answered questions. If you’re a Colorado Rockies nerd, it was a little slice of baseball heaven in January.

I went to as many panels as I could and attended the media availability when the day was winding down. (You can read more about Nolan Jones’ comments here.) I’ve got a piece dropping on Purple Row next week about the Prospects Panel, but I left with a number of minor observations that struck me as interesting but not exactly the stuff to for an entire article.

So, here are five takeaways.

We Know More About the R&D Department

According to Brian Jones, Director of Research and Development, the Rockies now have a analytics staff of 12.

On the research and development side. we have now 12, including me. We have five on our development side, two data engineers, two web developers, and our manager of baseball systems. On the research side, we have Brittany Haby, who is the manager of baseball research, and we have two R&D analysts, Chris Bonk, a pitching analyst, and we have a player development analyst. We just started a new diversity fellowship program through the MLB where we have someone helping us out through that program that works with baseball ops as well. But I also work with Jimmy Hartley in video, Joe and Al Gilbert in scouting. So we have a total R&D group of, I would say, 12.

That still puts the Rockies on the low-end of the R&D MLB spectrum, but we have a better sense of how that part of the organization is staffed.

Bill Schmidt Is All-in on the Youth Movement

For the last few years, fans begged the Rockies to “Let the kids play,” and it’s happening. That trend started in 2023, and look for it to continue in 2024. Here’s what Schmidt told fans:

I'm excited about our young players. We have some really exciting kids coming. I'm anxious to see them in spring training. I've talked to Buddy and the staff . . . . For me this year is about striving for growth, and can we get better every day? But I'm excited about the young players. You're going to see them around here. You're going see them, meet them. We'll have them down in Scottsdale, and we'll figure out where they are.

In the Team Outlook panel, Zack Rosenthal said of the prospects, “First of all, they’re huge. I mean, they’re big dudes — ‘big dogs,’ I think is what they kept calling themselves. But I think what was most impressive was the personality and the want to win, the togetherness they all had.”

Of pitcher Chase Dollander, Schmidt said, “I don’t think he’s that far away.”

The (Maybe) Strongest Rockie

This came up in the Sports Medicine panel. The experts were clear that it was difficult to have a definitive answer given that the focus is on keeping players healthy. “We do have some self-proclaimed strongest players,” Gabe Bauer said. “But if I had to go with one, I would probably have to go with Lucas Gilbreath or Charlie Blackmon.”

“Justin Lawrence, that’s guy’s an animal,” Keith Dugger said, adding, “pitchers will pretend they’re the best at anything.”

“Nolan Jones is coming,” Bauer said.

Bill Schmidt Talked to Charlie Blackmon about being Traded at the Deadline

Conversations about Blackmon’s extension, Schmidt said, began at the trade deadline.

“We had a discussion about what he wanted to do,” he said. “I shared with him, it's something special when you play with one organization. And he said, ‘Let me think about it.’ And then he called me one morning and said, ‘No, I want to be here.’ So it was an easy thing at the end of the year to work out a deal.”

The conversation came as a bit of a surprise. On one hand, it’s difficult to see Blackmon with any other team. On the other, the Rockies offered to try to move him to a contending organization if that was what he wanted.

Some Players Revealed Their Favorite Video Games

During the Outfielders Panel, a young fan asked Sean Bouchard, Hunter Goodman, and Charlie Blackmon to name their favorite video games.

Bouchard said SSX Tricky, “more for the nostalgia of it all.” (The youngsters in the audience seemed, frankly, disappointed.)

Goodman went with Modern Warfare II, which met with greater approval.

Blackmon said, completely deadpan, “Pong.”

(If you’re old enough, you’ll get the joke, and to his credit, Blackmon appears to be relishing his role as the Rockies’ elder statesman.)

Closing Thoughts

So, those were a few of my favorite takeaways from RockiesFest. It was a great day.

This Week on Purple Row

Over on Purple Row, we started looking toward the future. Kenneth Weber wrote about which rookie players should be extended; Skyler Timmins made a case for giving Riley Pint a chance; and Even Lang explored the Rockies’ right field options.

Meanwhile, our PuRPs prospect rankings kept rolling out.

What I’m Reading

• Mark Knudson’s “Strike 2: Next Colorado Rockies hall of famer is Nolan Arenado” (Mile High Sports) — That would be wild.

Weekend Walk-off

Earlier this week, the Rockies also announced their 2024 promotions.

Thanks for reading! I’ll get better at this as I get more practice with the Ghost platform. (I really need a little more in terms of formatting tools . . . .)

Look for Rockies Pitch to publish once a week on Fridays (unless something remarkable happens).

Pitchers and catchers report soon!

Renee