Today’s main course was comebacks (with a side of catching philosophy)
This was a full day of interviews, including Bud Black, Justin Lawrence, Nolan Jones, and Jacob Stallings.
Bud Black
Interviewer Thomas Harding asked Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black questions about a range of players attempting to make a comeback in 2025.
Of Justin Lawrence, Black said, “With Justin, the inconsistency and a lot of times overanalyzing, he got himself in a pickle,” He added, “The more he fought to get out of it, the worse it got.”
Black noted Lawrence’s “good stuff” and “dominant stretches of performance” and said, “It’s in there to have a big year.”
He stressed Lawrence’s — and any pitcher’s — need for consistency though he noted that Lawrence’s arm slot makes consistency a challenge.
According to Black, “You need to be physically consistent with your mechanics,” and it’s something Lawrence has worked on.
“I think he’s more in a spot to figure this out and mentally get there,” Black said.
Tyler Kinley is another reliever hoping for a big comeback after coming off injury.
Black said, “He had a really good run in the middle part of the season towards the latter part of the season,” noting that for Kinley, “It’s all about strikes.”
However, Black added, “He’s figured some things out.”
He predicted a good season for Kinley. “He’s built the right way mentally, a big team guy, selfless.”
As for the pitching staff, everyone is in camp as well as most position players.
“They’ll be ready to go Tuesday,” Black said.
“Physically, everybody is good,” again pointing out that Sean Sullivan is “a little behind” due to a hip injury.
Kris Bryant is expected to arrive in Arizona today and is in good health after working closely with Rockies training staff throughout the offseason.
“He’s doing fine, feels good,” Black said.
There was also an update on Nolan Jones, one of the Rockies big questions headed into 2025. For Black, Jones’ performance last year was the result primarily of health issues (back and knee) as well pressure he put on himself to perform.
“Usually when a player’s in a good spot, swinging the bat well, getting hits, the mental side takes care of itself,” Black said. “It’s when the opposite occurs: You’re not getting hits, and then here comes the mental side.”
But the Rockies manager is positive about Jones headed into 2025.
“You’ve heard me say it before: If a player does something one time, he’s capable of doing it again.”
He acknowledged that the league became more familiar with Jones as the 2023 season progressed, but he was able to adjust.
“So it’s in there,” Black reiterated.
Justin Lawrence
For Justin Lawrence, 2025 is about putting last year behind him and moving forward — including a new look.
It all starts, though, with trust.
“For me, it’s biggest thing, first and foremost, is just gaining that trust back from the coaching staff and and my teammates, and letting them know that early on in the season, they’ll they’ll be able to rely on me,” Lawrence said.
He’s also working on his approach.
“It’s really just about simplifying it,” he said, “having a simple mindset, being able to go out there, clear minded, knowing if I can execute a pitch, I’m going to put myself in a good position.”
He added, “I think it’s going to translate to hitters, it’s going to translate to games, and it’s going to take the thinking out of it.”
Lawrence takes responsibility for his performance last season.
“You have to be brutally honest with yourself if you want to evolve in this game,” he said. “It’s only failure if you don’t learn from it. I learned from it.”
The experience has, he said, “pushed [him] to a new level of work ethic,” and he understands the need for consistency.
“If you want to stay in this game for a long time, you have to be able to repeat,” Lawrence said. “You have to be able to make those adjustments every off season to where you come back, and you are the same guy you were in a previous year.”
And, of course, “The Lion of Panama” got a new look.
He’s philosophical about the change.
“I could play the card of wanting to use it as ‘Hey, we’re getting rid of last year, getting rid of the bad, starting fresh kind of thing.’ But really, for me, it really was just a decision to [have] a different look,”
Nolan Jones
“I feel great right now, and I’m looking forward to a healthy season,” Nolan Jones sad early in his conversation with Harding.
But he took a different approach this offseason.
“It’s no secret that I struggled really bad last year and kind of wanted to forget about baseball a little bit spend some time with my family,” Jones said. “I have a newborn at home, so I got to spend some time with her, which has been amazing, and kind of reset, and get back to doing what I do best, and trusting myself.”
Part of his offseason regimen involved doing physical therapy and slowly moving into a full workload. He also held off on swinging quite so much.
“After 2023 I felt like I had a really good feel for my swing, and I wanted to keep it, and I hit a bunch all offseason, starting within a week of the season ending,” Jones said. “I felt like I kind of lost that feel a little bit as the season got closer, and was searching for it. So I wanted to reset and relearn what I do well and how my body works. And so it’s an everyday thing that I’m doing,”
Like Bud Black, Jones is confident he’s got a comeback in him.
“I played really well for a long period of time [in 2023],” Jones said. “I believe in myself, and I think that’s the key, believing in myself, knowing that I can do it, and just going out there and competing.”
He also wants to contribute every day: “It doesn’t have to be four-for-four,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be a homer. But how can I do my part to contribute, no matter what that is, every day?”
Jones — and the rest of the Rockies clubhouse — is supportive of Kris Bryant, who also has something to prove.
“We want to see him on the field,” Jones said. “I think that he wants to be on the field more than anyone. It’s hard when you’re when you’re hurting. And I think the way Kris’s clubhouse presence and the way that he treats other people, he’s got everybody on his team rooting for him.”
He added, “I think we all just want a healthy Kris Bryant to go out and play free. And I think, I think there’s a good chance we get that.”
Jacob Stallings
The lefty catcher was one of three free agents the Rockies signed during the offseason, and he’s happy to be back.
“I was really grateful that they gave me the opportunity,” Stallings said. “I didn’t know too many people or have too many relationships here coming in, but heard great things about the clubhouse, and it turned out all to be true.”
He added, “It was a pretty easy decision in the offseason.”
Stallings has also accepted he’s the oldest guy in the clubhouse.
“I think the first time I actually felt old was last year because I realized that when Daniel Bard wasn’t around, I was second-oldest one in the clubhouse, and I think I’m the oldest one this year,” he said.
“But it’s good. A lot of my career has been spent mentoring young pitchers, young players. So I guess everybody’s younger than me now at this point, but it’s something I really enjoy.”
Part of mentoring players involves recognizing the pressure of being a top prospect, like Rockies catcher Drew Romo.
“We had a lot of really good conversations. I didn’t want to overwhelm him with things,” Stallings said. “He was getting a lot of coaching and trying to learn his staff. So I didn’t want to overwhelm him, but I wanted to be a resource to him.”
Especially interesting was his take on the ABS system that will pioneered in some MLB spring training games. (The Rockies will have more of these than any other team, according to Stallings.)
Stallings has no experience with it, but his comments are worth citing at length:
I’ll certainly try to use it, but at some point, we’re not going to use it this year, so I’ll try to put it out of my mind. But it seems like we’re heading in that direction. So it’ll be interesting.
I think what intrigues me most about it is kind of the game-within-the-game. A pitch right down the middle, do I catch it badly on purpose to try to make the hitter — I know it’s a strike, but the hitter might see that I catch it badly, and try to make them waste a challenge so that they have less later in the game when it might be more important.
I think it’ll be interesting to see, how teams use that game-within-the game. And I think it’ll be a good thing if we do go to it. Really with ABS, I don’t want to go to it full-time, but I think the challenge system will be really good because you just want to get rid of the big misses in the big spots. And I think that’s what the ABS will allow us to do is just [correct] some of those big misses that are missed for whatever reason.
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Check back tomorrow for more notes from Salt River Fields.
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