Colorado Rockies: Injury Updates from Walt Weiss

Prior to the Colorado Rockies taking on the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday in the finale of their three-game series at Coors Field, Colorado manager Walt Weiss sat down with the media.

During the short session, Weiss provided injury updates on Charlie Blackmon, Daniel Descalso, and Nick Hundley, as well as talked about some tweaks that might happen in the Colorado rotation in the upcoming four-game series against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Denver.

Colorado enters Sunday’s game with a 9-8 record and is looking to win its fourth series in six tries this season. Sunday’s game also completes the first rotation for the Rockies through the National League West as the Colorado Rockies have faced Los Angeles, the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants at home while opening the season at the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Injury update on Blackmon (15-day DL battling turf toe)…

“Charlie is doing well. We’re looking for him to go out this week and best-case scenario is maybe we see him in Arizona (Colorado opens a series in the desert on Friday).”

Injury update on Hundley (7-day DL due to concussion protocol)…

“Nick did well. He caught five innings and his plan is to catch seven today. So far, so good. In hindsight, I think it was the right thing to do (starting him in Triple-A) instead of just plugging him back in up here. The protocol with a head injury is a little different. If everything goes well, we’re looking at him being with us tomorrow.”

Injury update on Descalso (15-day DL with broken bone in left hand)…

“With his injury, you just have to wait for the bone to heal before you can start doing a whole lot. He’s on the right path. Everything’s gone well and he’s going to start doing some physical activity with the hand, including strengthening and swinging the bat in the near future.”

On Brandon Barnes batting leadoff on Sunday…

“I knew I wanted to play him today. With Charlie out, we don’t really have a prototypical leadoff guy so I’ve been mixing and matching there. He’s been igniting things coming off bench and getting some big hits for us (including the game-winning hit in Friday’s win over the Dodgers). I wanted to plug him into that spot. It’s been a while. He’s hit leadoff in the past at times. It’s in his wheelhouse, especially where he’s at now.”

Next: Rockies Shake Up Bullpen With Moves

On Chris Rusin possibly starting on the mound on Monday to open the series against Pittsburgh…

“That was one of the scenarios but we haven’t confirmed that yet. We have a Plan B that we’re going to kick around. (Jorge) De La Rosa is a part of that Plan B. He wasn’t feeling too good so we were talking about bumping him back a couple of days but he looks better today so that may change a couple of things. He threw a little today. He’s been sick.”