10 things you might not know about the Rockies

Short piece I wrote for the TEN|10 Group's 10 Spot digging through the Colorado Rockies media guide and my own memory for things some fans don't know about their Colorado Rockies.

Seth Smith: Backup quarterback Most casual sports fans in Denver have at least some inkling that Rockies first baseman Todd Helton was once a college football player and Peyton Manning’s backup at the University of Tennessee. Some might even know that Helton actually had the starting quarterback job for the Volunteers before Manning. But not as many know that outfielder Seth Smith was a backup to the other Manning, Peyton’s brother Eli, at the University of Mississippi. Unlike Helton, Smith never saw any game action in college at quarterback, but he did get into one game as a wide receiver.

Dexter Fowler: Right-handed Basketball-Playing Computer Nerd Before he was the Rockies’ switch-hitting starting centerfielder, Dexter Fowler was strictly a right-handed hitting kid with plenty of options. The Rockies drafted him in the 14th round out of high school. But Fowler, a good student with an interest in computers, was recruited by Dartmouth and Harvard. He was a good enough basketball player that Harvard offered him a hoops scholarship. The University of Miami offered him a baseball scholarship. The Rockies offered him a future roaming Coors Field, and he eventually chose that path. But just to keep things interesting, Fowler, who had hit right-handed all his life, became a switch-hitter once he joined the organization.

Aaron Cook: Out of Sink The Rockies winningest pitcher lives or dies by the success of his sinking fastball. On any given day, if he has a feel for the pitch, even the best hitters in baseball will hit ground ball after ground ball while Cook cruises. If he doesn’t, it can be a very long day. But Cook, the only pitcher in baseball pitching for the team with which he is the all-time wins leader, didn’t develop the pitch until his fifth minor league season in 2001. Bryn Smith, a former Rockies pitcher and minor league instructor, suggested Cook use a split seam grip on his sinker, and the pitch turned Cook from a marginal prospect into one of the best pitchers in Rockies history.

Ubaldo Jimenez: Dubious Achiever The Rockies ace and Opening Day starting pitcher has gotten where he is today in large part by not allowing home runs. After two starts in 2010, he has now made 55 consecutive starts without allowing more than one home run in a game, the longest active streak in Major League Baseball. Jimenez will have to continue to grow as a pitcher to avoid being remembered in baseball history for one of the few games in which he did allow more than one home run. On Sept. 5, 2007, Jimenez gave up two home runs to the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field: a solo home run to Pedro Feliz and, more historically, a two-run home run to Barry Bonds. It was the 762nd — and last — home run of Bonds’ career.

Rockies Infield: First Things First The Colorado Rockies have a long history of focusing on pitching in the annual amateur draft. In 17 seasons with a first-round pick (the team didn’t have a first-rounder in 2001), the team has taken a position player with its first choice just four times. Three of those players were in the team’s Opening Day infield this season: first baseman Todd Helton, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and third baseman Ian Stewart. The fourth player — Chris Nelson —- was drafted as a shortstop and played with the Rockies in spring training this season. He is expected to move to second base in the minor leagues this season, leaving open the possibility that he could join the other three in the infield at some point.

Rockies bullpen: Evolution in Action Much has been made of the stability in the Colorado Rockies starting rotation. Last season, five pitchers — Aaron Cook, Ubaldo Jimenez, Jason Marquis, Jorge De La Rosa and Jason Hammel — were responsible for 155 of the team’s 162 starts, consistency that is almost unheard of in baseball today. But the bullpen was another story. Only one relief pitcher who as on the team’s Opening Day roster in 2009 was also on the team’s roster for the playoff series against the Philadelphia Phllies — closer Huston Street. Ironically, Street starts 2010 on the disabled list while the rest of the bullpen is nearly identical to that which ended the 2009 season.

Superstitions, Schmuperstitions Baseball is a game full of superstitions and many ballplayers pay heed to one in particular. At the end of an inning when coming into the dugout, players will make a point to leap, step or dance over the white chalk line, avoiding it at all costs. Going all the way back to Little League, players learn to not step on the line, lest they jinx their team. But one Rockies player, starting pitcher Aaron Cook, does the complete opposite and makes a point of stepping on the line every time he comes in from the field.

Ian Stewart: Third-Baseman-in-Law Ever since he was selected in the first round of the 2003 draft, Ian Stewart has been touted as something special. But after a quick start to his minor league career, it became a bit of a slow march through the Rockies organization for Stewart on his way to taking over the starting third base job and joining the Rockies family at Coors Field. But early in his minor league career, the Rockies became part of Stewart’s family. In 2006, Stewart married his wife, Susan Mikulik, daughter of Joe Mikulik, his manager at Class A Asheville in 2004.

Huston Street: The Other Street The Rockies closer played in three College World Series with the University of Texas Longhorns and was named Most Outstanding Player in 2002; he was drafted as a supplementary first-round pick by the Oakland Athletics in 2004, made his major league debut the next year and went on to win the American League Rookie of the Year. This past offseason, he signed a three-year contract with the Rockies for $22.5 million. But in the state of Texas, he isn’t the most well-known athlete in his family, even with a name like Huston. His father, James Street, quarterbacked the Longhorns’ wishbone offense in 1968 and 1969, leading the team to a National Championship in ‘69. For good measure, he played a little baseball, too, and threw two no-hitters for the Longhorns.

Jeff Francis: Canadian Rockie Many Rockies fans already know that Rockies starting pitcher Jeff Francis, like former Rockies outfield great Larry Walker, hails from British Columbia. Walker finished his career as the all-time leader in most offensive categories among Canadian-born players. Francis, despite missing all of last season after shoulder surgery, already ranks among the winningest Canadian pitchers. However, not as many Rockies fans know that Francis, who made his major league debut in Walker’s last season with the Rockies — but after Walker had already been traded to the St. Louis Cardinals — actually played baseball as a youth at Larry Walker Field in Maple Ridge, B.C.