Colorado Rockies: How Jonathan Lucroy impacted Ryan McMahon

At the age of 23, there is still plenty for Ryan McMahon to learn about the game of baseball. As he chatted with me in an exclusive interview inside the halls of Denver’s Archuleta Elementary on Tuesday morning just before he was slated to take part in a school assembly set up by the Colorado Rockies, McMahon talked about one of the players who taught him the most last season.

After getting just 19 at-bats last season in his first taste of the big leagues, McMahon enters this season with the potential of not only making his first Opening Day roster but also holding down at least some of the duties at first base for the Rockies. He has been rumored to be “penciled in” at the position. If that’s the case, he will take some of the lessons he learned from former Rockies catcher Jonathan Lucroy with him onto the diamond.

Lucroy, acquired by the Rockies at last season’s trade deadline, had not been with the team long when McMahon got his first big league call-up on August 11. The intersection of those two transactions made a huge impact on McMahon’s career, the young infielder says.

“Last season, I probably learned more off the field,” McMahon explained. “I got very lucky. Jon Lucroy actually, like the first week he was there I got called up, he and I spent about an hour in the video room. He was showing me different hitters and saying, ‘I think this guy is similar to you. This is what he does well. Look at where he’s looking. He’s leaving that pitch alone.’ Talking with him and talking with Ian Desmond and some other guys, you pick up on things. Whether they know they’re giving you good advice or not, you pick up on it. “It’s like these kids,” McMahon said as students lined up behind him to make their way into the gymnasium to hear the Rockies presentation. “You’re looking up to them and taking whatever they say as the gospel, basically.”

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That’s not something that McMahon takes lightly he says. He recalls being one of those kids, just like the students at Archuleta Elementary, hanging on every word that an older player said.

“This is fun. This is cool,” McMahon said. “I remember being a kid and looking up to guys who played ball so this is special for me and I hope it’s special for the kids too. Hopefully I am a good influence on them like I had in my life. I was blessed. I had some really good influences in my life and I am trying to be that for them.”

So was he an autograph hound as a youngster? McMahon says no, but there was one prized possession he had.

“I had a Shawn Green signed rookie card and that was my pride and joy,” McMahon beamed. “If I was going to grandma’s house, I would take my Shawn Green card with me and set it somewhere in the house and then I would go get it before I left. That was my favorite one for sure.”

McMahon enters the home stretch toward spring training with the potential of landing a starting job at first base. As I asked him if his approach to this offseason was changing, a smile started to cross his face.

“Everyone keeps asking me that so I am starting to wonder if I should be doing something different,” McMahon laughed. “I’m still doing the exact same things. I’m still lifting. I’m still taking ground balls. I’m still hitting. I start everything I’ve always started.”

Colorado Rockies

While he admits that he does know some of the talk about his potential role with the Rockies in 2018 and beyond, he is trying to keep it off to the side as much as possible.

“I’d be lying if I said I don’t see it but it doesn’t affect me too much,” McMahon said. “I understand that (Colorado general manager) Jeff (Bridich) and (Colorado manager) Bud (Black) are going to do what’s best for the team. Hopefully I can show them and prove to them I am the best option.”

Is there pressure in having to show your skills to earn the job?

“There probably is to an extent. But when you’re in the moment, you’re just in the moment,” McMahon said. “During the moment, I don’t feel any pressure. You want to succeed for your teammates. We have a special group coming in this year. Maybe it’s more me putting pressure on myself because I want to be a part of that.”

And some of wanting to be part of things this year is because of the taste of the postseason McMahon got last year. After being sent down a week after his first call-up, he was once again recalled on September 1 when Major League rosters expanded and was part of Colorado’s stretch run to make the postseason. It’s an experience that won’t be forgotten and will hopefully pay dividends down the road.

“Being there at the Wild Card game, that was the coolest baseball I have ever seen,” McMahon said. “You guys think you’re hanging on every pitch? We’re hanging onto the breaths between the pitches. I know I didn’t miss one pitch from that Wild Card game. It was awesome baseball.”