MEDIA CLIPS – March 31, 2017 Gray eager to bring power stuff to OD stage By Thomas Harding / MLB.com | @harding_at_mlb | March 30th, 2017 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Maybe it is in the mane. Late last season, a baseball executive was discussing the transformation of Rockies right-hander Jon Gray from a tentative late-season callup in 2015 to a strikeout threat in '16. As the blond locks grew, he checked off areas of pitching growth. By the time he fanned a Coors Field-record 16 on Sept. 17 in a shutout of the Padres, his hair was long enough to whip as wildly as opponents swung. "I guess you have to have confidence to pitch with hair like that," the longtime baseball observer said. Gray, who will get a trim for a charity donation in a month or so but has no plans to go crew cut, will let his hair hang down once again on Monday, when he makes his first Opening Day start against the Brewers at Miller Park. "He's intimidating," Rockies catcher Tony Wolters said. "He's a little lion out there. You can see him bobbing his head when he's feeling good. It freaks out the hitter. I get excited." Gray has more than just a fear-inducing look. At an imposing 6-foot-4 with a fastball that averaged 95 mph last season and a put-away slider, Gray set a Rockies rookie record with 185 strikeouts last season. Now a curve he learned last year became a strikeout pitch this spring. So the 25-year-old can overpower hitters and make them look bad. Just imagine if Gray were actually mean. 1 "When I go out and pitch, I don't, I'm not myself," Gray said. "I'm not Jon, I guess, when I'm going out there. I'm someone else. An angry individual, I guess. "I love to pretend. Every five days, I get to be somebody else." Gray would have a hard time finding reason to be angry. On Monday, he will become the fourth-youngest pitcher to start an Opening Day in club history -- behind David Nied (1993) and Jason Jennings (2003), both 24, and Jhoulys Chacin ('13), who was a couple months younger than Gray now. At the end of each year, Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich and the staff have exit interviews, where they assign an area of improvement. Pitching coach Steve Foster and Bridich were light on specifics and heavy on wanting Gray to pitch with belief that he can dominate. "He started believing, 'I can overpower guys. I don't have to tickle the zone. I can attack the zone,'" Foster said. "You started seeing it last year. The fans started seeing it. I certainly started seeing the belief on the mound." Now Gray can spread some of that confidence to the rest of a young rotation. It includes another second-year man in Tyler Anderson and 89-start veteran Tyler Chatwood, with three rookies in line for two spots -- righty German Marquez, who appeared in six Major League games (three starts) last season, and two others who would be making their debuts in lefty Kyle Freeland and righty Antonio Senzatela. "I've done it before," Gray said. "I've hit about every bump in the road there is, and I'm always finding ways to get past it to move on. I know these guys are going to do the same exact thing." On Opening Day, Gray's hair will be flowing. More importantly, so will his confidence and excitement. "It's exciting," Gray said. "It's the best place to compete. We're all competitive people. That's exactly where we want to be right there, right in the middle of that storm. I'm just waiting for that day." 2 Rox make flurry of moves before camp breaks Gray gets OD nod; Musgrave, Patterson, Bemboom sent to Minors; rotation to be announced Friday By Jesse Sanchez / MLB.com | March 30th, 2017 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Rockies officially named Jon Gray as their Opening Day starter in Milwaukee on Monday as expected, and are likely to announce the rest of their starting rotation for the regular season Friday. The Rockies also announced left-handed pitcher Harrison Musgrave, outfielderJordan Patterson and catcher Anthony Bemboom were sent to the Minors. "I told [Gray] it's a feather in the cap," Rockies manager Bud Black said. "It's a special day for all of us in baseball. To be named your team's starter to kick off the season, again, a nice feather in the cap." As for the rest of the rotation, Tyler Anderson is on track to start the second game of the four-game series against the Brewers on Tuesday and Tyler Chatwood will likely start the third game of the season. The final two spots in the rotation will be filled by Kyle Freeland, 23, Antonio Senzatela, 22, or German Marquez, 22, with one of those three likely landing in the bullpen. Freeland and Senzatela would be making their Major League debuts. Marquez made his big league debut at the end of last season. Black also said left-handed pitcher Chris Rusin, who was slowed by an oblique injury this spring, will throw two innings and 30 pitches in a Minor League game Friday. Black also expects catcher Ryan Hanigan, who signed a Minor League deal with the club earlier this week, to report to Triple-A Albuquerque Friday. "We all have talked about the importance of catching depth," Black said. "He's a veteran guy that works well with pitchers. He's a receiver, blocker, thrower and I really liked his work in Cincinnati." 3 Blackmon's 3 RBIs back Anderson's effort By Barry M. Bloom and Jesse Sanchez / MLB.com | @boomskie | March 30th, 2017 PEORIA, Ariz. -- Tyler Anderson and Clayton Richard made their final spring starts for the Rockies and Padres, respectively, on Thursday with vastly different results as Colorado downed San Diego, 10-5, at Peoria Stadium to conclude the Padres' desert end of Spring Training. Anderson's final tuneup went three innings and 38 pitches. DJ LeMahieu had a hit in each of the first three innings, including a double, two singles and a pair of RBIs, andCharlie Blackmon added 3 RBIs to back up Anderson's pitching. The left-hander allowed two runs on three hits with a walk and three strikeouts, and hit an RBI single in the second inning. "The only thing that was really bad about today was the leadoff walk [in a two-run Padres second], but the rest, I'll take it," Anderson said. "I was just working on getting pitches down with two strikes where you want them to. They weren't really down, but that's all right." Conversely, the veteran left-hander Richard was taken for three runs on six hits before he was lifted with two out in the second inning. He also allowed one walk and fanned three. For the Padres offensively, Ryan Schimpf had a second- inning RBI triple and Dusty Coleman doubled in a fourth-inning run. The Padres concluded the Cactus League portion of their schedule at 11-21-3. The Rockies still have a pair of games against Seattle before leaving Arizona to open the regular season. All three teams open on the road Monday. A swarm of bees stopped play for a moment in the top of the ninth inning, causing all the players on the infield to fall flat to their stomachs. The swarm collected around a microphone installed on the screen above and to the left of the Padres' first-base-side dugout. Rockies manager Bud Black said he saw the hive. "But then I saw something happening over here, where all the players got on the ground," said Black, standing to the left of the infield after the game. "It was reminiscent of Petco Park a couple of years ago. Remember that when the keeper had to come down to the left-field corner?" 4 Rockies up next: Right-hander Tyler Chatwood, the Rockies' likely No. 3 starter, is slated to make his final spring start against the Mariners at 7:40 p.m. MDT at the Peoria Sports Complex. The game will be broadcast live for free on MLB.TV. Jordan Lyles, Greg Holland, Adam Ottavino, Harrison Musgrave, Scott Oberg and Jairo Diaz are also expected to pitch. Padres up next: The Padres broke camp after the game and headed back to the San Diego area. Their final exhibition game is Friday at 6.p.m. PT against their Class A affiliate Lake Elsinore Storm. Trevor Cahill will make his final preseason start during the game, which will be played at the Lake Elsinore field, located in Riverside County about 90 minutes north of Petco Park. Listen in live on Gameday audio. Watch every out-of-market regular-season game live on MLB.TV. Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog, Boomskie on Baseball. Follow @boomskie on Twitter. 5 Black talks season outlook in manager Q&A By Thomas Harding / MLB.com | @harding_at_mlb | March 30th, 2017 SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Rockies manager Bud Black isn't afraid of youth on the mound or behind the plate. He also knows what security a strong bullpen can bring. Most of all, in his first year as Rockies manager, Black has been greeted by some talented and accomplished players who are ready to win. Black knew all this in November, when he accepted the offer to replace Walt Weiss as manager.