Colorado Rockies: Bud Black on the importance of experience in the lineup

SAN FRANCISCO — Looking over the starting lineup for the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night, there is a confluence of, for lack of a better term, the old and the new in the outfield.

Against Madison Bumgarner of the San Francisco Giants here at AT&T Park, Colorado Rockies manager Bud Black has veteran Matt Holliday starting in left field and rookie Noel Cuevas starting in right, sandwiching Charlie Blackmon in center. Once tonight’s game begins, Holliday will have seen action in 1,895 games now in his 15-year career. Cuevas, meanwhile, has 68 Major League games on his resume, all this season.

With talent such as Ryan McMahon, Garrett Hampson, Raimel Tapia and Tom Murphy on the bench, there is plenty of youth to fuel the Rockies’ run toward a second consecutive Rocktober. That is balanced, however, with the experience of a Gerardo Parra, Chris Iannetta and Carlos Gonzalez, none of whom were part of Saturday’s starting lineup.

In his pregame talk with the media, including Rox Pile, Black glowed about Holliday’s experience and what it has brought to the Rockies, saying, “It’s an experienced player who goes up there with a good plan, going into the at-bat. In this game, he has an idea about Bumgarner and he’s going to try to execute his plan.“He’s just experienced and experience this time of year is invaluable.”

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With those words, I had to ask Black about how he balances playing veteran players with experience versus those players who have potential but not hundreds of at-bats under their belts, especially in the heat of a pennant race.

Does experience factor into the lineup decisions at this time of year? That’s the question I asked and Black made it clear it does.

Colorado entered Saturday’s evening game knotted with the Los Angeles Dodgers at the top of the National League West standings after Los Angeles destroyed the Cardinals in St. Louis earlier in the day. In the clutches of a pennant race, Black said to expect plenty of veterans in the lineup over Colorado’s remaining 14 regular-season games after tonight.

“For sure. Yes, no doubt,” Black told me about experienced players factoring into the lineup decisions. “I think the next couple of weeks, predominantly, you’ll see the guys who have been here all year. The guys who have been in Septembers before, you’ll see that. Probably, for the most part, when teams have that experience, teams use it.”

Of course, Holliday has not been with the Rockies all season. However, his experience in pennant races in invaluable in Black’s eyes.

Yes, the Rockies will use that experience to hopefully propel them into the postseason. Absolutely, the franchise has a bright future ahead of it, but it seems the veterans will play a bigger role in the team’s present-day success … or lack thereof.