MEDIA CLIPS – March 4, 2016

CarGo's extra cargo no cause for concern Bigger biceps won't affect throwing, says right fielder

By Thomas Harding / MLB.com | @harding_at_mlb | March 3rd, 2016

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Rockies right fielder Carlos Gonzalez worked out with several current and future football stars in

Orlando, Fla., but he insists he didn't develop the type of muscle that inhibits a player.

Specifically, Gonzalez appears larger in the biceps. It's not cartoonish, but still it is noticeable and could be concerning. If big biceps helped a player throw -- and the ability to erase baserunners is one of Gonzalez's many attributes -- would have them.

But Gonzalez, who trained at speed and performance Tom Shaw's center with coaches Brian Stamper and Bert

Whigham, took special care to make sure bigger arms don't lead to shorter throws.

"What's important for me when I'm lifting hard is I want to be flexible, so I stretched a lot with my upper body and my lower body," Gonzalez said. "After working out, I was sure that I'd run and I always played catch. It was part of my routine.

"It can affect you if you don't throw. I'd lift in the mornings, work pretty hard, then run. And in the afternoon, I'd do my whole baseball program so that it doesn't affect me."

Of course, arm strength is part of power hitting. If Gonzalez can add a few more feet in distance and height -- with the fence in front of the increased in height from eight feet to 16 feet, six inches -- more power to him. He finished last year with 42 home runs.

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Rockies first-base coach and outfield and baserunning instructor Eric Young noted that he paid no attention to the larger arms, but he was happy to see that the rest of Gonzalez remained lean.

"I watched him throw when he came here, and he's good to go," Young said. "And you see his waist and all that, and he's really trim and quick. I think he's in for a big year."

Thomas Harding is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter@harding_at_mlb, listen to podcasts and like his

Facebook page. This story was not subject to the approval of or its clubs.

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Rox scratch Rusin due to finger inflammation Carle to get start against A's; prospect Musgrave to follow

By Thomas Harding / MLB.com | @harding_at_mlb | 11:17 AM ET

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Rockies scratched lefty Chris Rusin from Friday's scheduled start against the Athletics because of inflammation of the left middle finger, manager said.

There is no timetable on when Rusin will be ready for Cactus League action. Non-roster right-hander , acquired from the Pirates for reliever after the 2014 season, will start. He'll be followed by lefty prospect Harrison Musgrave.

Rusin, 29, is seeking a spot in the starting rotation after going 6-10 with a 5.33 ERA in 24 games, all but two of them starts, last season. It was by far the most action in a season for Rusin, who went 4-9 with a 4.97 ERA for the Cubs in 24 games (20 starts) from 2012-14.

Carle went a combined 14-8 with a 3.68 ERA in 27 starts with Double-A New Britain and Triple-A Albuquerque last season. The Pirates took Carle in the 10th round out of Long Beach State in 2013.

Musgrave, who amassed 136 combined in 147 1/3 innings last season at Modesto and New Britain, was an eighth-round choice out of West Virginia in 2014.

The situation becomes intriguing because Rusin is out of Minor League options. Most forecasts have the rotation consisting of lefty Jorge De La Rosa and righties Chad Bettis, Tyler Chatwood, and . However,

Rusin threw two complete games last season and had some of the Rockies' best starts.

The Rockies are preparing Rusin as a starter, but they often carry eight relievers -- one more than most teams. Rusin could be used as a lefty complement to righty long reliever .

Also, righty David Hale, who also hopes to have a say in the starting-rotation race but can pitch out of the bullpen, threw

10 pitches off a mound to a catcher -- who was standing rather than squatting -- on the sixth day since suffering a right hamstring injury in a running drill. Hale has stayed on his throwing program, and should be able to slide into game work once cleared from rehab. 3

Rox prospect Story shows raw power with HR By Thomas Harding / MLB.com | @harding_at_mlb | March 3rd, 2016

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Until a year and a half ago, Rockies shortstop struggled with staying even during the professional season's highs and lows. Now, with a chance to earn a Major League starting job, Story has to deal with a high -- an eye-catching three-run homer in his first start during a 6-5 victory over the D-backs on

Thursday.

Story, 23, a supplemental first-round pick out of Irving (Texas) High School in 2011, launched his homer to dead center on a cutter by D-backs righty Zack Godley on a 2-2 pitch with one out in the third inning.

The shot was estimated at 442 feet by Statcast™ and was a stunning early impression, but early nonetheless.

"The more you play, you realize it's a long season and this is a long Spring Training, too," Story, the Rockies' No. 11 prospect, said.

The homer came after a double by Cristhian Adames, who is competing for shortstop but started Thursday at second, and a walk by Charlie Blackmon.

"I'm not even worried about results, really; just having solid at-bats and effective at-bats," said Story, who 20 combined home runs at Double-A New Britain and Triple-A Albuquerque last year. "To be honest with you, I was just trying to hit that ball to right field. My two-strike approach is to just stay inside it."

The thought process is what manager Walt Weiss wants.

"You always want to get off to a good start, make a good first impression, and he certainly did," Weiss said. "It's where the big boys go -- he's shown that power, has got ability to hit the ball a long ways. The key with Trevor is to set his sights to the big part of the field and not try to do those things. With his ability, it'll happen."

Worth noting

• The Rockies are adding coated chain-link fencing to raise the height of the right-center-field wall at by eight feet, to 16 feet, 6 inches, to prevent line-drive home runs that make it unfair for pitchers. But balls hitting a fence of that composition will tend not to carom far from the wall.

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But what if the Rockies had gone with taut netting? Theoretically, a net would create a carom that could give the outfielder a chance to steal an out with a strong throw. Also, with the netting starting 7 feet, 9 inches off the ground, it would not be a safety issue for a fielder who could have his spikes caught in the net. But general manager Jeff Bridich said there are reasons the Rockies went with fencing.

"There was just a need for material consistency in what we already have," Bridich said. "At some point, you have to consider the aesthetics of what's already out there, what's been out there, and make that decision. It's pretty rigid fencing.

"We'll just have to see how it plays."

• Righty Jordan Lyles yielded a first-pitch triple to Nick Ahmed in the first inning and a leadoff double to Jason Lamb in the second in his Cactus League debut. Lyles, who was limited to 11 starts last season because of a right big toe ligament injury that required surgery, yielded two runs on three hits, and struck out two with no walks.

"Next time out, I'll work on the and again; I would say I'm going to get three innings," Lyles said. "My changeup was pretty good, for the most part, today and I threw the curveball for a couple of strikes."

• Rockies righty hit 98 mph during his two innings. He yielded two runs on four hits, with a and strikes on 22 of his 34 pitches. The runs scored on three straight hits with two outs in the third inning, Butler's first. The lessons were clear.

"Last year, I was behind a lot, and I started getting hit around and that's when they scored the runs," said Butler, a supplemental first-round pick in 2012 who went 3-10 with a 5.90 ERA in 16 Major league starts last year. "Today, all those counts were hitters' counts, every one of them. If you get ahead, you can attack with what you want."

• Center fielder , the Rockies' top pick (10th overall) in 2012, doubled in a run and singled during the ninth- inning rally.

Thomas Harding is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter@harding_at_mlb, listen to Podcasts and like his

Facebook page. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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CarGo, Story power Rockies past D-backs By Steve Gilbert / MLB.com | @SteveGilbertMLB | March 3rd, 2016

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Rafael Ynoa scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the top of the ninth as the visiting Rockies topped the host D-backs, 6-5, on Thursday afternoon at Salt River Fields.

The D-backs scored first, when Nick Ahmed led off the bottom of the first with a triple off the wall in right and scored on Socrates Brito's single, and Arizona pushed its lead to 2-0 one inning later thanks to a sacrifice fly by Tuffy

Gosewisch.

D-backs starter Robbie Ray was impressive over two innings in his spring debut as he battles for the No. 5 spot in the rotation. The left-hander allowed a leadoff double to Charlie Blackmon before retiring the next six hitters in order.

The Rockies, though, were able to get to right-hander Zack Godley to take the lead in third on Trevor Story's three-run homer to center.

Carlos Gonzalez added a homer in the fifth off reliever Tyler Clippard.

Gonzalez's replacement, David Dahl, doubled home a run in the top of the seventh for a 5-4 Rockies lead.

Zach Borenstein's ground-rule double scored in the bottom of the eighth for a 5-5 tie.

Eddie Butler, who is battling for a spot in the Colorado rotation, allowed a pair of third-inning runs on a two-out double by Rickie Weeks.

Up next for D-backs: Friday will be the first time the D-backs get to see their prize offseason acquisition, Zack Greinke, in a game setting. The right-hander will make his spring debut against the split-squad A's at Salt River Fields at 1:10 p.m. MST.

Up next for Rockies: Rockies manager Walt Weiss announced Thursday that lefty Chris Rusin has been scratched from

Friday's 1:05 p.m. MT start against the split-squad Athletics at HohoKam Park with left middle finger inflammation. Non- roster right-hander Shane Carle , acquired from the Pirates for reliever Rob Scahill after the 2014 season, will start.

Carle will be followed by lefty prospect Harrison Musgrave . Cristhian Adames, who played second base Thursday but

6 is part of the shortstop competition, will lead off and play short, according to the lineup posted Thursday morning. Gerardo Parra, DJ LeMahieu, Mark Reynolds, Nick Hundley and Brandon Barnes are among veteran position players scheduled to play.

Steve Gilbert is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteveGilbertMLB. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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Breaking down the Rockies' 2016 Top 30 Prospects Balance, quality gives Colorado MLB's 4th-ranked farm system

By Jim Callis / MLB.com | @JimCallisMLB

The silver lining in the Rockies' five consecutive losing seasons is that they've embraced rebuilding and assembled a farm system that could carry them back to the playoffs in the near future.

No. 4 in MLBPipeline.com's system rankings, Colorado has tremendous balance when it comes to prospect talent, both in terms of hitters and pitchers and in terms of short-term and long-term help.

Led by premium draft picks such as right-hander Jon Gray, outfielder David Dahl, third baseman Ryan McMahon and Forrest Wall, the Rockies already had some impressive building blocks heading into 2015. Then they added several more, beginning in June with a strong Draft effort that included $11,295,000 in bonuses for shortstop

Brendan Rodgers, right-handers and Peter Lambert, and third baseman Tyler Nevin. A month later, first- year general manager Jeff Bridich traded face of the franchise to the Blue Jays for Jose Reyes and three quality righty pitching prospects: Jeff Hoffman, Miguel Castro and Jesus Tinoco.

Top 30 Prospects lists

Division Teams/Release date

NL East MIA, NYM, PHI, WAS

AL East BAL, BOS, NYY, TB, TOR

NL Central CHC, CIN, MIL, PIT, STL

AL Central CLE, CWS, DET, KC, MIN

NL West ARI, COL SD, SF

AL West LAA, OAK, SEA, HOU

Top 10 March 1-4

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Gray should play a prominent role in the rotation, catcher Tom Murphy and shortstopTrevor Story could claim starting jobs, and Castro is one of several power arms who could rejuvenate the bullpen. Dahl, McMahon, Hoffman, outfielder Raimel Tapia and left-hander all could arrive at Coors Field in 2017. Help is on the way.

Biggest jump/fall

Here are the players whose ranks changed the most from the 2015 preseason list to the 2016 preseason list.

Jump: Pedro Gonzalez, OF (2015: NR | 2016: 20)

Fall: Rosell Herrera, OF (2015: 10 | 2016: NR)

Best tools

Players are graded on a 20-80 scouting scale for future tools -- 20-30 is well below average, 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average and 70-80 is well above average.

Hit: Wall (55)

Power: McMahon (55)

Run: Wall (65)

Arm: (60)

Defense: Dahl (60)

Fastball: Carlos Estevez (75)

Curveball: Hoffman (65)

Slider: Gray (60)

Changeup: (60)

Control: Freeland (60)

How they were built

Draft: 18

International: 7

Trade: 5

Breakdown by ETA

2016: 8

2017: 10

2018: 7

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2019: 4

2020: 1

Breakdown by position

C: 2

1B: 0

2B: 2

3B: 2

SS: 4

OF: 4

RHP: 11

LHP: 5

Jim Callis is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow @jimcallisMLB on Twitter. This story was not subject to the approval of

Major League Baseball or its clubs.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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Trevor Story, Rockies shortstop prospect, hits 442-foot homer By Patrick Saunders The Denver Post

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Trevor Story, the Rockies’ talented 23-year-old shortstop prospect, continues to state his case that he’s ready for the big leagues.

Story blasted a three-run, 442-foot homer in the third inning Thursday against the at Salt River

Fields. The Rockies beats Arizona 6-5.

Story’s towering drive off of Arizona’s Zack Godley landed in the cactus-and-rock garden high above the 410-sign on the center-field wall. Story hit an 0-2 cutter.

With Jose Reyes out for an indefinite time as Major League Baseball investigates allegations of domestic violence, Story has a chance to break camp as Colorado’s starting shortstop.

The Rockies won the game in the ninth when Rafael Yona walked, advance to third on David Dahl’s single and scored on a wild pitch by Arizona reliever Jose Cisnero.

HITS

* Carlos Gonzalez hit his first homer of spring, a 381-foot solo shot to right field in the fifth.

* Dahl, the highly prized outfield prospect, hit an RBI double to score Mike Tauchman in the seventh inning to give the

Rockies a temporary 5-4 lead. Dahl then added his single in the ninth and stole a base.

MISSES

* Starter Jordan Lyles, working on his sinker and curveball, was not very effective. He gave up two runs on three hits in his two innings.

“I was working on some things, true, but I wasn’t happy with my results,” he said. “A run is a run. I’m sure I’ll look at it differently tomorrow, but I’m not real happy right now.”

Lyles, who missed most of the past two seasons with injuries, is expected to be part of the starting rotation.

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* Right-hander Eddie Butler, coming back from a tough 2015 season, threw the ball loose and easy — his fastball hit 98 mph — but he got behind in some counts and that cost him. Butler allowed two runs on four hits over his two innings, the big blow a two-run double to Rickie Weeks on a 2-0 count.

UP NEXT

The Rockies (1-1) travel to Mesa to play the Oakland A’s (0-1) at Hohokam Stadium, 1:05 p.m. (no TV, no radio)

Rockies pitchers: RHP Shane Carle, LHP Harrison Musgrave, RHP Simon Castro, RHP Brock Huntzinger, RHP Carlos

Estevez.

A’s pitchers: LHP Sean Manaea, LHP Dillon Overton, RHP Ryan Madson, LHP Sean Doolittle, RHP Angel Castros.

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Rockies' David Dahl back on fast track after scary outfield collision

Rockies' prospect has chance to make big leagues after having his spleen removed last May in Double-A game By Patrick Saunders The Denver Post

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — David Dahl admits he was scared.

He should have been. He didn't know it at the time, but he was bleeding on the inside, his spleen lacerated during a violent collision in shallow center field last May.

As the ambulance took him from New Britain Stadium to a hospital in nearby Hartford, Conn. he was in severe pain, made all the worse as he began to worry about the possible demise of his big-league dreams.

"It was a sharp, shooting pain in my side. I couldn't stand up, it was hard to breath and I wanted to throw up," Dahl recalled Thursday before the Rockies' Cactus League game against Arizona. "What was really scary for me was not knowing what was going to happen to (my) baseball career. Yeah, I was worried whether I was ever going to be able to play again."

Now the fast, graceful outfielder with a terrific arm and power in his bat, is back on the fast track toward Coors Field. The

Rockies aren't saying where their 2012 first-round draft pick will begin the season, but it mostly likely will be at Triple-A

Albuquerque. There is a good chance he'll make his big-league debut at some point this season, however.

One thing is clear: the Rockies believe Dahl, 21, has a chance to blossom into a special player.

"David has this innate baseball instinct that he was just born with," Rockies farm director Zach Wilson said. "When you have his type of ability, his work ethic and his desire and passion, that's when guys go to the next level, that's when guys become great.

"If he keeps on this path, he has a chance to be a five-tool player and to be very special at the next level."

Back on May 28, those great expectation were in doubt. Playing center field for the Double-A New Britain (Conn.) Rock

Cats, Dahl raced in for a shallow flyball.

"It was just a little blooper into the Bermuda Triangle," recalled Rockies shortstop prospect Trevor Story, Dahl's roommate and one of his closest friends. "Our second baseman, (Juan) Ciriaco was busting pretty hard for the ball. They were both calling for the ball at the same time, and Dahl dove for it. Ciriaco caught him flush with the knee right in the chest.

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"I just remember, after a little bit, that Dahl was losing his color. He just didn't look right. His nose was bleeding and he was gasping for air. I thought, at first, that maybe he had just got the air knocked out of him. Obviously, it was much worse than that."

Wilson credits Rock Cats trainer Billy Whitehead for saving Dahl's life.

"Billy very quickly identified the issue and was able to get an ambulance to the field and get David care as quickly as possible," Wilson said. "Without Billy's quick work, a bad situation could have become a lot worse. Seconds and minutes matter when you have an injury to an internal organ."

Three days later, after he was stabilized, Dahl elected to have his spleen removed so he could get back on the field quickly and resume his career.

"I was lucky," Dahl said. "The day after I got hurt, the doctor told me that there have been people who bled out and died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. I decided to have my spleen taken out so I could keep playing. Otherwise I would have had to wear protective gear. I didn't want to do that."

The spleen filters out and destroys old and damaged blood cells and plays a key role in preventing infection. With his spleen removed, Dahl now must take yearly pneumonia vaccines as well as other precautions to ensure that minor illnesses don't evolve into major problems.

More quickly than anyone ever expected, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound Dahl was playing baseball again, beginning a rehabilatation assignment with short season-A Boise on July 6 and returning to Double-A just 11 days later.

"David focused on the day-to-day rehab, he was so disciplined," Wilson said. "That's why he came back so quickly."

Dahl finished the season with a .278/.304/.417 line in 73 games at New Britain. He has hiked a rocky road since the

Rockies selected him with the 10th overall pick in 2012 out of Oak Mountain High School in Birmingham, Ala. A suspension for disciplinary reasons and a torn hamstring limited him to only 10 games with Class A-Asheville in 2013.

"You have to remember that was a young, 18-year-old kid coming out of high school," Wilson said. "He had never been away from his family and had never been away from his friends. So that was a big early challenge for David."

In 2014, Dahl flashed his potential, hitting .299 with 14 homers, eight triples, 41 doubles and 21 stolen bases for Low-A

Asheville and High-A Modesto.

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"You can see his talent," said Story, Colorado's first-round pick in 2011. "He's so fast and he glides to balls to balls that most guys would never even get to."

For now, Dahl remains a prospect. Someday soon he'll likely wear a big league uniform.

"The player will tell you when he's ready for more," Wilson said. "I think we are still determining that with David. Anybody can sit there and see the talent, that's easy. But the more David has grown up in front of us, with each passing week, we see more of his potential as a major-league player."

Patrick Saunders: [email protected] or @psaundersdp

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Tyler Matzek still struggling with control, but Rockies not panicking

Left-hander wild in first Cactus League game, but team has no plans to pull him from competition By Patrick Saunders The Denver Post

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Left-hander is still searching for his lost command. The Rockies are going to give him time to find it, and they say they're not yet pressing the panic button.

Manager Walt Weiss did not make a big deal of Matzek's rough first outing of the spring.

"It was his first outing, so we give him some grace there," Weiss said Thursday morning. "But it's not something we addressed right after the game. We have a plan in place with Tyler to try and kick-start him and get him over this hump."

Matzek, a 2009 first-round draft choice whose 2015 season ended abruptly because of control issues brought on by performance anxiety, was clearly out of sync in his Cactus League debut Wednesday. He faced five batters and failed to record an out while giving up three runs on three hits, including a solo to lead off the fourth by Arizona's

Welington Castro. Most disconcerting, Matzek walked two and had a wild pitch.

Asked if his problems were mechanical or mental, Matzek said: "It could have been a number of things. It could have been mechanics, it could have been (in my) head. I will sit back and think about it and figure it out and make a plan not to do it again."

Weiss said the Rockies have no plans, at least not right now, to take Matzek out of competition while they work on his mechanics and his mind-set.

Rusin scratched. Lefty Chris Rusin was scratched from Friday's scheduled start against Oakland because of inflammation of the left middle finger, Weiss said. There is no timetable on when Rusin will be ready to pitch again.

Rusin, 29, is seeking a spot in the starting rotation after going 6-10 with a 5.33 ERA in 24 games. Rusin threw two complete games last season and had some of the Rockies' best starts.

Rusin is out of minor-league options, so the Rockies might try to keep him as a reliever and an emergency starter.

Currently, the penciled-in starting rotation looks like this: lefty Jorge De La Rosaand right-handers Chad Bettis, Tyler

Chatwood, Jordan Lyles and Jon Gray.

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Hitting his stride. Trevor Story, a talented 23-year-old shortstop prospect, continues to state his case that he is ready for the big leagues. He blasted a three-run, 442-foot homer in the third inning Thursday against the Arizona Diamondbacks at

Salt River Fields.

Story's towering drive off Zack Godley landed in the cactus and rock garden high above the 410 sign on the center-field wall. Story hit an 0-2 cutter.

"I'm not even worried about results, really. I just (want) solid at-bats and effective at-bats," said Story, who hit a total of 20 home runs for Double-A New Britain and Triple-A Albuquerque last year. "To be honest with you, I was just trying to hit that ball to right field. My two-strike approach is to just stay inside it."

Weiss was impressed by the approach and the results.

"You always want to get off to a good start, make a good first impression, and he certainly did," Weiss said. "(442 feet) is where the big boys go — he's shown that power, has got ability to hit the ball a long way. The key with Trevor is to set his sights to the big part of the field and not try to do those things. With his ability, it'll happen."

With Jose Reyes out for an indefinite time as Major League Baseball investigates allegations of domestic violence, Story has a chance to break camp as Colorado's starting shortstop.

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Gonzalez, Story homer in Rockies' win over Diamondbacks Associated Press

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Carlos Gonzalez homered for Colorado while Robbie Raymade a strong opening statement in his bid to be in the Arizona Diamondbacks' starting rotation during the Rockies' 6-5 win Thursday.

Gonzalez hit a solo shot off new Diamondbacks reliever Tyler Clippard in the fifth inning.

"We don't worry too much about him," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said of Gonzalez. "Guys like CarGo, we just want to make sure they're ready when the bell rings."

With four rotation spots already announced, Ray is trying win the last one available for Arizona. The 24-year-old left- hander went 5-12 with a 3.52 ERA in 23 starts last season. He struck out three in two scoreless innings in his spring debut.

"He threw the ball great," Diamondbacks manager said. "He threw his fastball where he wanted to for the most part. His changeup was pretty good, and he threw a few good sliders."

Rickie Weeks, signed to a minor league deal by Arizona after spring training was under way, began his push for a roster spot with a two-run double.

Trevor Story, a candidate to open the season at shortstop with Jose Reyessuspended and awaiting trial on a charge of abusing his wife, hit a three-run homer for the Rockies.

"You always want to get off to good start and make a good first impression, and he certainly did," Weiss said of Story.

STARTING TIME

Rockies: Jordan Lyles made his first big league start since toe surgery that limited him to 10 starts last season and is expected to be in the opening-day starting rotation. Lyles allowed two runs and three hits with two strikeouts in two innings.

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"Good to be back out there," Lyles said. "I wasn't pleased with the results ... just have to look at the positives and that's being healthy. From a physical standpoint I'm throwing everything. I'm back to normal."

Diamondbacks: Ray made the better impression over competitor Zack Godley, who gave up three runs and four hits in his two innings. Godley struck out four and walked one in his two innings.

"I pounded in on guys. I was able to mix in my offspeed," Ray said. "Changeup was really good. That plays off the fastball command, just going in on guys and letting them know I'm here."

TRAINER'S ROOM

Rockies: LHP Chris Rusin has inflammation in his left middle finger and will be miss his scheduled start Friday.

Diamondbacks: Manager Chip Hale said OF A.J. Pollock will play in his first spring training game on Friday. He took batting practice and threw on Thursday. He'd been dealing with a sore right elbow. P Silvino Bracho (groin) is soon to face hitters from a mound and after that, appear in games.

UP NEXT

Rockies: With Rusin injured and out, Weiss didn't immediately make a decision on who will start against Oakland on

Friday in Mesa.

Diamondbacks: The highly anticipated Diamondbacks debut of Zack Greinke is set for Friday in Scottsdale, a game against an Oakland split squad. Greinke is to pitch two innings. "The game doesn't even matter. There's going to be nerves. But he's a pro and he knows how to handle it and he'll get his work in," Hale said. Greinke has been limited with some of the throwing and other drills he's done in workouts so as to be ready to start Friday.

SEGURA AT SECOND

Jean Segura, acquired by Arizona from Milwaukee last month, is to start at second base Friday. Segura, a shortstop throughout his career, hasn't played second in the major leagues.

"He's looked good at the plate. He's done very well on our drills," Hale said. "We're trying to move everybody around. After two or three weeks we can maybe decide on who looks best and really start to have them get after it."

Hale said if Segura can show that he can play second base, he could be considered for playing "almost every day." 19

Colorado Rockies pitchers David Hale, Chris Rusin dealing with injuries early this spring By Bobby DeMuro  @BobbyDeMuro on Mar 4, 2016, 8:00a | Purple Row

No baseball season is complete without injury setbacks, unfortunately, and for the just two games into spring, pitchers are going down. Granted, the injuries—a slight hamstring pull for David Hale and now finger inflammation for Chris Rusin—are minor, but they're the earliest reminders of the inevitability of pitching problems.

"Fortunately it wasn’t too bad," Hale told Purple Row about his initial hamstring injury this week. "It’s getting there, though, it’s just taking time and getting back. I’m really happy to be back and [the Rockies] seem really happy about it, but unfortunately I have to nurse this hamstring for a few more days."

Hale, 28, was acquired nearly 14 months ago from the Braves. In 2015 in 17 games (12 starts) for the Rockies, he logged a 6.09 ERA (4.74 FIP) in 78 innings, complete with 10.9 H/9, 2.3 BB/9, and 7.0 K/9. Now, he's hoping to make the big league club out of spring training, but first must deal with this injury setback.

"They haven’t told me anything," Hale said of the Rockies' short-term plan with him. "It feels like it’s been two months already, but it’s only been six days, so… they had me doing some manual squats on it and that kind of stuff, so they are letting me put weight on it, and walking is no problem."

It's not just basic leg exercises, either; fortunately for Hale, he's still been able to throw, even though the Rockies haven't put him on a mound yet and likely won't for a bit more time.

"I’ve been able to throw every day, not off a mound, but I’ve been playing catch on flat ground, throwing my pitches," Hale added. "Thank God I didn’t have to lose anything on my arm."

In just a few more days, Hale's hamstring problems will hopefully be a thing of the past as he competes for a big league job.

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Colorado Rockies manager Walt Weiss keeps moving full speed ahead with defensive shifts By Bobby DeMuro  @BobbyDeMuro on Mar 3, 2016, 1:57p | Purple Row

The Colorado Rockies have begun to embrace defensive shifts wholeheartedly the last several seasons, with generally good success the more they employ the new positioning. And although they may have gotten to the party late relative to other big league teams who took a chance on infield realignment quickly, now that the Rox are here, they aren't going anywhere.

Manager Walt Weiss addressed the subject of defensive shifts on Thursday before the club's second spring training game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and for Weiss, the status quo seems to be the name of the game for the club's shift strategy.

"I wouldn’t say there are any new shifts," Weiss said, noting he refers to the positioning as "aggressive defensive alignment," during a discussion with the media on Thursday. "There is only so much you can do, but we pay attention to the information, the data, and we act accordingly. But I don’t see any type of new, innovative shifting on the horizon."

That's not to say there isn't plenty to work on, though—even with a talented infield that has claimed many a Gold Glove

Award in the past.

"We have experience, but that doesn’t mean we are going to be right all the time," Weiss admitted. "You’re playing percentages, just like you do with a lot of things in this game. Sometimes the information is going to tell you one thing, but you’re going to be wrong, and they’re going to hit it away from the shift. There’s no exact science, well, ‘you should have shifted there,’ or ‘you shouldn’t have shifted there,' We can all say that after the fact."

But Weiss was quick to follow it up with the bottom line: the Rockies believe they had more quantifiable success in 2015 with shifting relative to recent seasons where they used the alignments less frequently.

"The bottom line is, we know we turned a higher percentage of ground balls into outs last year, so it was a positive," the skipper said. "We’ll continue to try to get a feel for that, but it’s never foolproof, no matter how much information you have."

Part of getting the feel for defensive shifts means feeling out how the infield realignment affects other players on the field, especially the and catcher, as they often need to cover bases that wouldn't normally be open depending on each specific game situation. Weiss relayed the club's need to be better this season with that than they were last summer.

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"Those are things we’re working on that we didn’t pay as much attention to last spring, different responsibilities from different spots on the field," Weiss said of covering bases and other new responsibilities created by the demands of defensive shifts. "Guys have to get used to cut-offs and relays from a different spot, covering bases, and an awareness of not leaving a base unoccupied as a defender. Some of those things start to come into play and they have to be second nature, and those are the things we are working on."

But just like it's necessary of the Rockies' shifts to be mindful of those issues, so it is for the club's opponents, too.

"On the other side of things, we try to exploit those things offensively," Weiss said of other teams' inability to patrol the shift in their own right. "That’s when I talk about adjusting to the shift, that’s part of it. It’s not just hitting, it’s base running also."

Of course, from the Rockies' perspective, embracing defensive shifts becomes quite a bit easier with a third baseman who covers ground like Nolan Arenado. As Weiss points out, he's one of the few third basemen in the game to stay on the left side of the infield during a left-handed shift, thanks to the Gold Glove winner's range and athleticism.

"If I want to have one guy on that entire side of the infield, I want it to be Nolan Arenado," Weiss said. "Plus, Nolan’s gotten a real good feel when he’s the only guy on that side defending the bunt, moving and messing with the hitter, moving mid-pitch to a different spot to diffuse the bunt or the potential of a bunt. He’s just got a great feel for those things."

"And if he’s the only guy over there and he has to defend a bunt, who better?" Weiss added, asking rhetorically. "I wouldn’t want my shortstop trying to defend a bunt, he never has to do that. Nolan does that one in his sleep, as we’ve seen, so that’s why we keep him on that side of the field. He’s got shortstop range, shortstop feet, shortstop hands, so nothing is overwhelming for him."

So where do defensive shifts go from here? Obviously, some players have to start wholeheartedly adjusting to them, right? Weiss said he believes widespread adjustments are coming, especially from hitters who can't just rely on plus power to drive balls through and over the shift.

"Those guys are going to have to adjust, or they’re not going to be in the game for very long," Weiss said of non-power hitters against the shift. "When you’re that type of player, you can’t just go up there and hit into shifts time after time, there has to be an adjustment. These players are all used to making adjustments at this level and that’s one of them. But I do believe that Major League hitters will adjust to a degree with all the shifts."

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Just not every Major League hitter, that is.

"I think the big boys will always try to hit the ball in the seats, for the most part," Weiss added. "And we’ll probably shift on them until the end of time."

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Rockies manager Walt Weiss intrigued by young players showing talent early in camp By Bobby DeMuro  @BobbyDeMuro on Mar 3, 2016, 1:07p | Purple Row

The Colorado Rockies have an intriguing core of minor leaguers rising through the system—as we've seen this winter, we can be reasonably certain they are among the best prospects in the game. And as those young players make the climb to the high minor leagues, so comes their arrival at Major League spring training.

Now getting some of his first looks at top prospects like David Dahl, Raimel Tapia, Matt Carasiti, and Carlos Estevez,

Rockies manager Walt Weiss is impressed—and he didn't hold back in praising them Thursday at Salt River Fields at

Talking Stick before the club's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

David Dahl has specifically caught Weiss' eye.

"He's a well-rounded player," the manager said on Thursday. "He defends, runs, can throw, can hit, can hit for power, and he’s got some sneaky power. I haven’t seen him a ton, just bits and pieces in spring training, but yeah, an exciting player.

One of those guys that people bring up the five tool guys, and there are degrees of those five tools, but he does everything well."

Giving Dahl credit for being a natural athlete, Weiss also marveled at something not as measurable as tools or other variables more easily seen from outside the game.

"I’ve seen a quiet confidence and he’s a confident player, which is half the battle up here," Weiss said of Dahl's mental makeup. "So that shows up, too, especially in a young player that’s not in awe of the surroundings. He seems very composed and very confident in a Major League setting."

Dahl isn't the only one on Weiss' watch list early in camp. As you might expect, pretty much every big name prospect in spring training with the team right now has gotten the skipper's attention in one way or another, and with many, Weiss uses the same word: attack.

Raimel Tapia, ever the athletic, rangy outfielder with an unorthodox hitting approach, is right within Weiss' sights as a player on the attack when he steps between the lines.

"He’s a little maybe unorthodox in some ways, but extremely talented," Weiss said of Tapia, who will likely start the season in Double-A Hartford. "We’ve already seen him early in the camp now make a couple of great plays in the outfield, he covers a ton of ground, and he plays very aggressively every aspect of the game, he’s attacking the game."

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"On offense, on defense, and on the bases, he attacks the game, and we talk a lot about that around here," Weiss added.

"That’s who want to be."

It's not only outfielders that have attracted Weiss' attention, though. Shortstop prospectTrevor Story has impressed the manager early with his mature approach to the game and his own bit of quiet confidence, and there are two young pitchers that the big league manager is specifically interested in seeing more of during the month of March: Matt Carasiti and Carlos Estevez.

"Both are power arms, and both have impressed early in camp," Weiss said of the two power righties coming out of the bullpen just one day after each threw a scoreless inning in Wednesday's spring opener.

"Carasiti has got the split finger, that, it’s the real deal," Weiss added. "He’s had the success as a closer. And Estevez certainly looks the part, with a big, big body. He's a strike thrower, he attacks, he’s another guy that we are really excited about. Those are the guys that we’re excited about, the big powerful arms."

Though all five prospects Weiss singled out will likely be assigned back to minor league camp sooner rather than later, they still have at least another week or two to soak up all they can at the Major League level, and in that clubhouse. Weiss wants them around the team's big league veterans as much as possible.

"I preach to our veterans a lot about that responsibility, that passing of the baton and sharing information and helping guys grow," Weiss said of having the minor leaguers around the team's older guys. "The wisdom that the veterans have through experience, that’s valuable stuff. We take it seriously, and those guys do, too. I think it’s great we have guys that the young kids can look up to."

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