Welcome to this edition of Thomas Harding's Rockies Beat newsletter. MLB.com's Manny Randhawa is pinch-hitting for this edition. |
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer isn’t a big fan of the word “vibes” when it comes to his ballclub. “Well, with ‘vibes,’” he said, “it seems like you’re going to go and sit on a beach in San Diego.” Schaeffer prefers “atmosphere.” An appropriate term, considering that atmosphere is an oft-discussed topic in the mile-high altitude of the club’s home ballpark. After all, it isn’t the beach in San Diego. Also often discussed when it comes to the Rockies these days is the future of the franchise following an overhaul in the front office from the hiring of a president of baseball operations on down. While fans and observers around the game begin to see the Rockies through a new lens now that Paul DePodesta and Co. are settling in, the atmosphere during Spring Training has been different for the players, as well. Call them “vibes” or call it “atmosphere.” Whatever “it” is, it’s palpably new. And there’s another word that the Rockies feel encapsulates the mission of everyone in the organization as the team looks to put a 43-119 campaign in the rearview mirror: “Elevate.” It was the word printed across Schaeffer’s purple shirt as he spoke about the feeling in camp this year. |
“The atmosphere here is one of trying to push things forward,” Schaeffer said. “And you can feel it when you walk into the building. People are here to work, to get better in a fun atmosphere, just a place where you want to go to work. “That’s the way I feel, and I want everybody to feel that way when they come in this building. I want them to feel energized to come to work and get better and to push toward the common goal." “Elevate” didn’t come out of nowhere, and it’s not merely a play on the altitude in Denver that looks good on a T-shirt. It’s become a cohesive term that has a lot of intention behind it as the Rockies begin to build a new identity. “I know a lot of people think that, like, our job is the baseball game,” Schaeffer said. “But there are countless hours spent on important things behind the scenes. And this is the driving factor -- it’s a daily reminder of what we’re here to do. “We’re here to elevate everything we do. That’s our standard.” The motto makes even more sense considering the Rockies’ starting point after a trying 2025. If the plan is to elevate their play to a level more befitting their geography, they’re beginning the trek somewhere around the Dead Sea. But it has to start somewhere. And the players say that while the proof is in the execution when it counts, there’s a different feel to the proceedings in Scottsdale this spring. For the club’s All-Star from 2025, much of it comes down to a shift in mindset for young players like himself, a large demographic on the roster. For him, that shift happened around this time last year. “I think a lot of young guys -- me included -- you get to the big leagues, and you’re just kinda happy to be there,” said Hunter Goodman, who last year became the first Rockies player to hit 30 or more home runs (31) since 2019. “But at the same time, you need to come up and be like, ‘Hey, I’m here now. I want to perform. I want to do what I came here to do.’” |
Goodman said he sees “big, big changes” among the younger players in the offing as they become more comfortable being themselves in a baseball sense. He also added that when combined with the new-look staff both in the front office and the coaching ranks, that natural progression could lift the Rockies substantially in 2026. “Since [DePodesta] got here and we’ve had the new coaching staff changes, the vibe all around has just been better,” he said. “There’s been more energy, there’s more positivity going around.” There’s the “V-word” again. Maybe a compromise can be reached … “vibosphere?” We’ll need to workshop that. In the final analysis, though, the words “vibe” and “atmosphere” won’t be the ones that count most in the eyes of those in the Rockies organization. It’ll be “elevate.” “The way we treat each other, the way we prepare, the way we run the bases, the way we throw strikes, the way we compete, we have to elevate all that stuff,” Schaeffer said. “And we’re in the process of doing that. “We’re obsessed with it.” |
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The first City Connect night of the season will be on April 17, when the Rockies host the Dodgers while in their Nike City Connect uniforms for the first time in 2026. The latest design, which features vivid colors like cobalt blue, razor pink and laser orange, succeeded the first Rockies City Connect threads, which featured a dark green Colorado license plate-based design. |
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Goodman and his wife don’t have kids, but there’s something interesting stitched on his catcher’s glove that indicates there are special little ones in his life. In cursive script, the word (is it a word?) “Goo-Goo” is stitched into the leather with purple thread. “I’m an uncle,” Goodman said. “I’ve got two nieces, one is three years old and one is one. It was supposed to be ‘Uncle Goody’ because everybody calls me ‘Goody.’ And the three-year-old, when she was learning how to talk, she kept calling me ‘Goo-Goo.’ “So ‘Goo-Goo’ kind of stuck, and I put it on my glove.” All you Papas, Nanas, Yayas and Meemaws out there, make some room for “Goo-Goo.” |
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