Colorado Rockies: Bill Schmidt, Bud Black on upcoming trade deadline, playoff chances

For fans that have been discouraged by the team thus far, Bud Black thinks that there are a lot of players that he thinks have stepped up or will step up in the near future.

"“I’d like to think that Kyle Freeland, Germán Márquez, (Antonio) Senzatela, (Chad) Kuhl, (José) Ureña, (Austin) Gomber, whoever starts, will set the tone every night,” Black said. “I think Bard and Colomé have been really consistent all year long. The first part of the game and the last part of the game, I think, are in order. Now, the middle innings we have to shore up. From a fan perspective, if you believe in the starters and you believe in the last two guys in the ‘pen and we can work the bullpen in the middle and score enough runs with (C.J.) Cron, (Kris) Bryant, (Brendan) Rodgers, (Elias) Díaz I think is on his way to a bigger second half like last year. (Ryan) McMahon, I think, is a key part of this too. His expected numbers, for me, should improve in the second half. That’s what fans should believe in.”"

While they know that it will be a very difficult task to overcome, they believe their potential and some potential additions could put them over the top for the playoffs.

“We haven’t played well or to our potential,” Schmidt said. “The last few weeks, we’ve played better baseball. We didn’t play well for the most part in May, for the most part in June, but for the last month, we’ve played better. We got Kris Bryant back too. We’ve got a chance.”

The other career Kris Bryant considered besides baseball

Had things not worked out for Kris Bryant in baseball, perhaps the new member of the Colorado Rockies would have become a dentist.