Morning Links: Rockies News 4/23

The Colorado Rockies were snowed out, again, thanks to another April snowstorm in Colorado. That put their series with the Atlanta Braves. who have an identical 13-5 record so far this season, on hold. Here’s what else is happening with the Rockies and round the rest of the league.

From Troy Renck: Rockies vs. Braves postponed with Colorado snow, doubleheader Tuesday (Denver Post)

"Mother Nature continues to wreak havoc on the Rockies homestand as Monday’s game was postponed.It will be made up as part of a split doubleheader Tuesday with the first game at 1:10 p.m., followed by the regularly scheduled game at 6:40 p.m.The pitching is expected to hold for both teams with Atlanta’s Mike Minor starting opposite of Jeff Francis in Game 1.In the second game, Julio Teheran will face Rockies’ right-hander Jon Garland. Tyler Chatwood was scratched from his Triple-A game, leaving him in line to start Wednesday for the Rockies if the weather cooperates."

Cold and snowy. Image: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

From Jay Tymkovich: Pitching to Wilin Rosario (Purple Row)

"Among Major League baseball players with at least 40 plate appearances, Rosario has seen the fewest fastballs of anyone. His 38.4 Fastball% is a full four percentage points lower than Josh Hamilton‘s, and Hamilton has been known to swing at everything he looks at, including low flying aircraft. And yet he sees more straight fastballs than Wilin.Those fastballs have been replaced by off-speed breaking balls. Rosario has seen sliders 30.6 percent of the time, a number that leads the league by a fair margin. Accordingly, he sees pitches in the strike zone only 39.8% of the time, the 17th lowest number in the league. Pitchers want to get him to chase."

From Brent Biggeman: Dickerson off to hot start in first Triple-A season (Colorado Springs Gazette)

"Cold weather knocked out Monday’s Sky Sox game, meaning a rare day went by without Corey Dickerson picking up a hit……On a team loaded with players who have played in the major leagues, Dickerson is one of the few Sky Sox still making that initial climb through the organization. Last year he started with Modesto in High-A and earned a midseason promotion to Double-A Tulsa after hitting .338 through the first 60 games.Now here he is, batting .400 through his first 15 games with a .673 slugging percentage – both marks rank second on the team to Nolan Arenado."

From Jeff Passan: 10 Degrees: April illusion or is Justin Verlander really losing zip on his fastball? (Yahoo!)

"7. Ubaldo Jimenez morphing from the guy who could go 13-1 with a 1.15 ERA to start 2010 into someone who doesn’t deserve a major league rotation spot.PITCHf/x used to be Jimenez’s friend. Since its introduction, the two seasons with highest average fastball velocity for a starter belonged not to Verlander, Stephen Strasburg or another hard thrower. They were Jimenez’s, at 96.1 mph in 2009 and 2010. The next year, it dropped to 93.5 mph. Uh-oh. Last year lost another mph. And now it’s at 90.9. Like Verlander, a majority of Jimenez’s pitches are representing themselves as changeups."