Colorado Rockies: 3 things we saw at summer’s first intrasquad game

The Colorado Rockies held an intrasquad game at Coors Field on Saturday night. We were in attendance and these are three of the things we observed.

In a battle of purple versus the pinstripes at 20th and Blake on Saturday night, the Colorado Rockies divided up the team and took another step toward opening the 2020 regular season against the Texas Rangers in Arlington on July 24.

Here were the lineups for the game…

The final ended up being 4-3, with the Purple team grabbing the victory after two home runs from Nolan Arenado (including the game-winner to center off Jesus Tinoco) and a solo shot from Trevor Story.

Sure, Arenado going deep is the story, but there were some subplots we were watching as well. Let’s dive into them.

Garrett Hampson’s speed will be an asset

In the bottom of the first, Hampson looped a base hit down the right field line and didn’t slow down once he hit the bag. By the time Matt Kemp fired the ball back into the infield, Hampson had slid into a second with a double. The next batter, Daniel Murphy, singled to left-center to give the pinstripes a 1-0 lead.

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In his second at-bat, he grounded one up the middle that went off the shoe of reliever Wade Davis, giving him an infield single. Story had to eat the ball after grabbing it on the deflection. Speed gave Hampson another turn on base.

Don’t forget that Hampson stole 15 bases for the Rockies (and was caught just three times) last season, including nine perfect steal attempts in September. Those 15 steals were the second-highest on team, second only to Story. Hampson will likely be in the lineup often in 2020, thanks to his versatility. Can his speed be a weapon? If September (and Saturday) are any indication, the answer is yes.

Oh, by the way, Hampson also made a nice diving catch, robbing Elias Diaz of a base hit in the fourth.