Colorado Rockies spring notebook: German Marquez on his start, Story on his relationship with McMahon, and an update on Scott Oberg

On Friday, Colorado Rockies ace and likely Opening Day starter German Marquez started for the team against the San Francisco Giants in spring training and he did not have the start that he wanted.

In the 3+ innings, he allowed six hits, four runs (three earned), three walks, and struck out three. After his start on the chilly, rainy day, Marquez spoke to Rox Pile and MLB.com about his start and he was harsh on himself.

“I have to keep working on my fastball on the corners and it wasn’t there (today),” said Marquez.

He also said that his breaking ball and changeup weren’t working either. In his words, he said that “nothing” worked for him. Part of that was because he said that his arm never got loose “didn’t feel 100 percent”, mainly because of the weather.

But his manager wasn’t as harsh as Marquez

In speaking with the media, including Rox Pile, this morning, Bud Black said that Marquez was a bit too harsh on himself for his poor start.

“I think he was being a little too harsh on himself,” said Black. “I thought that German made some good pitches throughout the day and he also (had) some balls that were up and out over the plate that the Giants took advantage of. There was a walk in there–probably not a great walk–but he got to his pitch count, albeit, into the 4th inning with no outs … His stuff was fine, threw 60 pitches and that was a positive. The location on his fastball was not ideal but I thought he pitched some good breaking balls. The changeup wasn’t overly effective yesterday but all in all, it wasn’t a day that was totally a loss for German.”

Trevor Story and Ryan McMahon

After he was removed from the game on Friday, when he hit his third home run of the season, Trevor Story spoke with the media, including Rox Pile, and one of the things touched on was his relationship with Ryan McMahon and the dynamic of McMahon changing positions.

“(It has been) a little different,” said Story. “We have a real good chemistry–me and Mac. We communicate really well and that kind of translates to third base. We’re going to have some groundballs that we’re going to have to get used to and play off each other a little bit just so we can get comfortable with our ranges and what we (can) go after and what we (can’t). He’s one of my best friends so that’s always seamless.”

Story is only hitting .231 on the spring thus far but with his three homers, he has an OPS of 1.154. With that, he said that he is looking for “more consistency” on the average and seeing the ball but when he has seen the ball well, obviously, he is doing well.

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Scott Oberg after his first outing

Scott Oberg spoke with the media, including Rox Pile, after Bud Black, and Oberg said that while he felt “a little sore” after his first outing on Friday, he was very happy with his progression. Both he and Black said that he will likely have seven more appearances in games before the team breaks spring training but if everything progresses as they have been, he will be on the Rockies Opening Day roster.

“I thought Scotty, after a long-layoff, looked very sharp,” said Black. He said that he liked his delivery and the fastball velocity was a little bit lower than usual but he said that “his stuff looked very good for this time (in) spring.” Black said that the fastball was in the “92 to 94 range.”

However, if he can be on the Opening Day, it likely would not be as the team’s closer as that would likely be Daniel Bard.

“I think that, more than likely, without setting this in stone, we feel pretty good about Daniel Bard in the ninth inning,” said Black. He said that he didn’t want to “pigeon-hole” any of the other bullpen roles but Bard will more than likely be the closer.

The Rockies will take on the Mariners at home in Scottsdale at 1:10 PM M.T. as Kyle Freeland will take on the Mariners’ ace, Marco Gonzales. Both the Mariners and Rockies will be broadcasting the game on television and radio.