Tough to top pair of Rockies hurlers

Team: Colorado Rockies
Location: Tucson, Ariz.
Date: March 17, 2008

Burning Question

After '05 first rounder Troy Tulowitzki nearly won NL Rookie of the Year in 2007, what can we look for from more recent first-rounders, right-handers Greg Reynolds ('06) and Casey Weathers ('07) in 2008?

With more than enough depth looming on the offensive side, the Rockies went for a pair of power arms with their first picks in 2006 and 2007 and fans in Colorado could see both in the Mile High City before too long.

Reynolds was taken with the second overall pick in '06 out of Stanford. At 6-foot-7, he boasts an intimidating presence on the mound and he backs that up with a low-90s fastball, a plus curveball and a solid change-up.

After debuting that summer with a 3.33 ERA in 11 starts at Advanced A Modesto, he moved up to Double-A Tulsa last summer and was mowing down Texas League batters with a 4-1 record and 1.42 ERA in eight starts, limiting hitters to a .180 average before rotator cuff problems and subsequent surgery shut him down for the remainder of the summer.

The good news, however, is that Reynolds is back in camp, throwing well on his normal rotation days and appears to be ready to break with his team come early April.

"Our main priority for him was simply to come in healthy, because we knew with the surgery we had to keep an eye on him, and we didn't want him to go too fast," said Marc Gustafson, the Rockies' director of player development. "But he's doing great, hasn't missed any time and we're very pleased with where he's at."

With two-plus weeks left in Spring Training in Tucson, Gustafson projected that if all continues to go well, Reynolds could start the season in the rotation at Triple-A Colorado Springs.

Weathers, meanwhile, is expected to close out games for a Tulsa club that by all accounts should be winning a lot of them.

One of the rare dominant college closers who has maintained that role in his pro debut, Weathers was the stopper at Vanderbilt last season and is the consummate closer type with a mid-90s fastball, a plus slider and a great aggressive demeanor on the mound.

In his brief debut at Class A Asheville last summer, he posted a 4.61 ERA and struck out 19 in 13 innings. Now he's expected to skip past Advanced A Modesto and join a formidable Drillers club.

"We just want him to get settled in and get on his normal work routine," Gustafson said of Weathers, who also got a taste of big league camp earlier this spring. "We like him in that role."

Other News of the Day

The Monday camp day which featured the Rockies' Minor Leaguers squaring off on the backfields at Hi Corbett was highlighted by the appearance of a few decidedly non-Minor League names. The Sunday rain wiped out games and left the club scrambling to make sure everyone got their innings in. Southpaw Jeff Francis -- who won 17 games for the National League-champion Rockies in '07 -- started for the Triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox and veteran reliever Matt Herges -- who posted a 2.96 ERA in 35 games out of the 'pen for the Rockies -- threw a few innings for the Double-A Tulsa Drillers. ... Second baseman Eric Young Jr., who was hit on the side of his head by a grounder, was back in the lineup for the Drillers on Monday and played the entire game with no ill effects.

Five Questions with Eric Young Jr.

MiLB.com: There are plenty of young players who grew up with dads in the Major Leagues, but not as many who are in the organization where their dad was legendary. How has it helped your status with the fans being "Little EY"?

EY: I think the biggest thing is once you hear the name and look at the stolen bases people automatically think we have similar styles of game play. I think fans know what they're in store for when they come see me play. They know what kind of show they're going to get.

MiLB.com: So we know how you two were similar, how would you say you were different as players?

EY: Right now it's that at this stage in our careers I probably have a little more pop than he did, a little more extra-base power. But as far as everything else we're similar. I'm taller and probably weigh more than he did when he came into the league.

MiLB.com: Identify anyone, past or present, that you'd like to have dinner with and why.

EY: Willie Mays. Just for how he brought it to the table every day, the kind of player he was and the respect he got from his peers.

MiLB.com: Complete this sentence: "People would be surprised to know that I"

EY: ...am into music. I used to play saxophone, I mess around with the guitar and keyboard and DJ equipment.

MiLB.com: What is your favorite aspect of playing in the Rockies organization and why?

EY: I'm with an organization that enjoys the kind of player I am and the kind of person I am. They give me the freedom to do what I'm capable of doing. Not too many people can say their organization is behind them like that.

Lasting Impression

With Tulsa pitchers throwing to Tulsa hitters in their "camp day" game, the Drillers hurlers got an idea of what life is going to be like for pitchers on the other seven teams in the Double-A Texas League this season. Those clubs will face a lineup that features two of the fastest players in the game coupled atop the lineup: infielders Corey Wimberly and Young.

Wimberly made quite an impression on the pitchers. And spectators. Oh, and on the left-field fence where he crushed a double in his first at-bat of the game before later easily beating out an infield single.

The 5-foot-8 (officially) speed demon also spent the 2007 season at Tulsa as the club's starting second baseman, but missed time off and on all season due to leg cramps. This year he heads back to the Drillers in a slightly different role and with quite a "supporting cast."

With Young -- the starting second baseman at Advanced A Modesto last season -- joining him in the lineup, the plan for now seems to be to install Young at second most of the time, while having Wimberly serve as more of a utility infielder at second, shortstop and third to get his regular at-bats and increase his versatility. In Monday's game, he started at third base and hit leadoff, with Young at second and batting second.

That's actually nothing new for Wimberly. Though he's played almost exclusively at second base the past two seasons, he split his 2005 debut at short-season Casper evenly among those three positions as well.

But it's when he's at the plate and on the bases that he truly shines. There is no doubt the mighty mite can hit. Before being drafted out of Alcorn State in the sixth round of '05 he led NCAA Division I in hitting with a .462 average, then went on to win the Pioneer League batting crown with a .381 mark.

This past season his average dipped to a still-respectable .268 (though it was disappointing to Wimberly), but he made up for it by winning the Arizona Fall League crown with a .407 average.

And he makes the most of that time on the bases, finishing within the top two in his league every year in steals, including 36 in just 92 games at Tulsa, which was still enough to lead the Texas League.

Parting Shots

For the second day in a row, bizarre weather had an effect on the game at hand in more ways than one. After the heavy rains of Sunday washed out the Major and Minor League games, pitching on both sides had to be tinkered with.

But the club's instructors and front office executives did get to see everyone in one place as Tulsa and Colorado Springs squared off on one backfield, adjacent to the game between Asheville and Modesto.

Though the sun was shining when the first pitches were delivered, midway through the game the clouds moved in and delivered a surprise of their own: hail. Heavy hail.

One can't help but wonder which of the next 10 plagues await for Tuesday.