Colorado Rockies: Too early to get excited for an improved season?

Though early, the Colorado Rockies are off to a strong start in spring training. Now Rockies fans are walking the line between optimism and “it’s just spring training.”

One of the faces of a prospective Colorado Rockies’ bounce back year, Jairo Diaz, made his first appearance of spring training in Wednesday’s dramatic 4-3 win over the Texas Rangers.

Diaz threw an easy 1-2-3 eighth inning on nine pitches and wound up with the win after late-game heroics by versatile prospect Bret Boswell whose two-out, three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth propelled Colorado to their third win in their first four games of Cactus League play.

Ubaldo Jimenez also put up a solid performance in his return to the mound, giving desperate Rockies fans yet another glimpse of hope heading into a pivotal season for the franchise. After a disappointing 2019, the 2020 Rockies need to bounce back and show they can win or else there may be a fire sale in the not-too-distant future.

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If the team shows they can win though, we may just see this roster stick around well into the future. Needless to say, there is a lot riding on this season so it is understandable when fans get excited over even minor signs that things will be different in 2020. And the team’s hot start in spring training will certainly start building hope for an improved season.

But is it too early to get excited that 2020 will be different?

Well, yes and no. Yes it’s too early in the sense that it is just spring training and most of the players on both rosters in a game won’t play during the regular season. Spring training results don’t necessarily translate to the regular season.

That being said, a win is a win, and while these victories obviously won’t count toward the team’s season total, we shouldn’t undervalue the huge mental boost a good spring would give to the locker room with baseball’s biggest chip on their shoulder. The Rockies want to prove that they can still win and strong showing in spring training would go a long way toward restoring some badly-needed confidence.

Add to that the fact that the Rockies have already seen some solid games from many of the players on their roster and the confidence only grows. Cactus League results don’t always predict Major League results but if the Rockies want to get the attention of the baseball world, this is the perfect place to start … and if they keep this up, they will do just that.