This Spring, the Rockies had a simple assignment for Troy Tulowitzki, their first-round draft pick (seventh overall) last year: Take more pitches and swing at those he could handle. They even went so far as to have him batting leadoff for the Double-A Tulsa Drillers.
By the time he played in July’s Futures Game, Tulowitzki could report, “Now I’m ready for the next thing to work on.”
He could be overstating the case. Troy’s improvement is merely a reduction of his ratio of strikeouts to walks under the 2:1 level from his 22 games last season with the high Class A Modesto Nuts, and his three seasons at Long Beach State.
To the plus side in August, he also had boosted his on-base percentage from .343 in 2005 to .376 for the Class AA Texas League Tulsa Drillers.
Tulowitzki’s biggest improvement has come in working his way out of a slump and in coming back from the injuries that have impeded his progress as a professional.
Last season, it was a strained left quadriceps. This year a strained left knee and a bruised left wrist resulting from being hit by a pitch have cost him time.
Through all that, the right-handed batter, who will turn 22 in October, had compiled a .297 average with 11 home runs, 51 runs batted in and five stolen bases.
Last year’s quad injury had limited him to 22 games at Modesto, but he showed flashes of the power that have not been lost on the Colorado Rockies development staff. He batted just .266, but with four homers and 14 RBI.
Colorado is projecting that the 6’3”, 205-pound Tulowitzki will be a power-hitting shortstop that will move down into the middle of the lineup as he develops.
There is no rush; In fact, the Rockies are inclined to keep him in Double-A through the end of the season. He will go to the Arizona Fall League to accelerate his development. Depending upon that audition, his Spring and whatever emerges from it in 2007, we give him a decent shot of seeing major league time late in 2007.
- Lary BUMP
