Colorado Rockies Injury Updates: Troy Tulowitzki
Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki did some running drillsyesterday after beginning non-baseball activities early in the week. Tulo is still suffering from a groin injury and will not be back for sometime. The good news is that the Rockies superstar is making improvements. Marco Scutaro is a quality shortstop, so the Rockies are fine for now on that front. It is always difficult to lose a star for a long time.
Starting pitcher Juan Nicasio has been cleared to begin a throwing program after recently undergoing treatment on his knee. Nicasio has full movement in his knee, and, if all goes well, he should be able to come off of the disabled list right after he is eligible.
The biggest news coming from the Rockies this morning deals with offseason acquisition Jeremy Guthrie. He stated that his poor pitching this season is not due to an injury- he did suffer one falling from his bike.
“I’m healthy, but I’m just not executing pitches as well as I need to,” Guthrie said Friday. “My biggest problem is that I am not throwing strikes early, and when I get behind in counts I’m throwing meaty pitches.”
As suspected, Guthrie doesn’t need to completely change his approach to hitters and merely needs to do the little things to adapt to his new environment. Experiencing some good regression would also help, and it is important for Guthrie to get back on track due to his importance in the rotation.
He has allowed a ghastly 12 home runs this season with a 6.35 ERA in 51 innings, so the fears that his fly ball ways would hurt him in Coors have proven to be correct. His peripherals will get better as the season goes, but Guthrie is pitching poorly this year. Even so, the good news is that his BABIP is .36 points higher than his career average so his luck will change.
The plate discipline statistics prove that Jeremy Guthrie is right in saying that he needs to throw more strikes. He is throwing slightly less strikes than usual, which is leading to less chases and swings from hitters. His whiff rate hasn’t been drastically impact, but it could be the reason for the lower peripherals. Guthrie is throwing a little less first-pitch strikes than usual, and that could be a cause for the higher fly ball rate in addition to his fly ball tendencies. Regression, slight changes, and less meaty pitches will help Guthrie improve.
Follow Joe Soriano on Twitter here. Check out Rox Pile for more on the Colorado Rockies.