Harding Newsletter: What makes Márquez so cool?

April 13, 2022

The Rockies head home to Coors Field 4-1 to start the season, thanks in large part to the high-flying heroics of Randal Grichuk, whose leaping robbery of a would-be three-run homer from Corey Seager powered Colorado to a win on Tuesday night and a two-game sweep of the Rangers.

Looking ahead to this weekend’s series with the Cubs, today’s installment of the Rockies Beat newsletter asks a simple question: Can Germán Márquez stay as cool as he looks?

The right-hander has always had a certain look about him, but with a touch fuller beard and dark locks that are several degrees wavier than last year, he’s taken his style up a notch in 2022.

If he can translate that cool look to smooth performances on the pitching mound this season, perhaps more people will recognize him for the pitcher he is.

Márquez was an All-Star last year, tied the Phillies’ Zack Wheeler and the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright for the Major League lead with three complete games, and in consecutive June starts held the Mariners to two hits in eight innings and one-hit the Pirates. Many of his starts ranged from competitive to solid to dominating, his consistency helping to earn that first trip to the All-Star Game. And in his 2022 debut on Saturday, Márquez held the Dodgers to one run on three hits in seven innings, striking out five.

In 25 of his starts last year, he posted 2.99 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP that, had it been his entire season, would have tied for 10th-best in the National League.

Márquez’s goal this year is to reduce the pitfalls that cropped up in the other seven starts, when he was unable to finish five innings (allowing 28 runs on 44 hits and 19 walks in just 23 2/3 innings over that span).

What happened in the clunkers?

“I don’t like to lose, but sometimes my mind doesn’t get right, and I start thinking too much,” Márquez said. “I have to do that in that inning, or between innings. It is hard, but I have to do it.”

Márquez is aware that thoughts, or even anger, can speed up his delivery, which leads to loss of control and command. Those closest to him, like catchers Elias Díaz and Dom Nuñez, see past his poker face and try to intervene. Former pitching coach Steve Foster used a stopwatch to time his delivery and advised him when he was working too fast — something new pitching coach Darryl Scott will keep an eye on, as well.

“He gets mad,” manager Bud Black said. “A lot of times he’ll show the, ‘Everything is OK … I’m poised’ [look], but inside he’s mad, and you see it in his delivery sometimes. Then he overthrows.”

One remedy is working on consistency with his delivery between starts.

“Everybody has this tendency; when ‘Marky’ is really cruising, he can get a little complacent in his ‘pen work,” Scott said. “He’s getting older, getting better at getting things under control.”

With only three Spring Training starts, he had little time to find his timing.

To avoid the temptation to quicken his delivery, Márquez limited his use of PitchCom — the electronic signaling system that delivers signs from the catcher quickly.

After using the first two Cactus League starts to work on timing, he treated his last tune-up, against the Brewers, as a regular-season game.

Some early jitters spotted the Brewers a quick 2-0 lead, but Márquez settled down and allowed no more runs in five innings, striking out eight.

That’s the cool, calm, collected Márquez the Rockies hope to see more of in 2022. He’ll get his next chance to show what he’s got on Friday night.

THESE KIDS TODAY

This past winter in Scottsdale, Ariz., third baseman Ryan McMahon turned to Marcus Lefton, a former Rockies Minor League physical performance coach, to tweak his offseason program in hopes of staying healthier over the course of a long season. McMahon, who signed a six-year extension with Colorado in March, appeared in a career-high 151 games last year, and he wants to do that consistently. He and Lefton would meet at what was, according to McMahon, “an old boxing gym and wrestling gym … It had a ring in the middle.”

“We went there Monday through Friday, and got to know some really good people,” McMahon said. “Their average age was probably in the 60s. They asked us a lot about the things we were doing, because we were obviously training differently than they were.”

ROCKIES TRIVIA

Question: What is the Rockies’ record for most wins in a regular season?

BLACK NOTCHES WIN NO. 1,000

Sunday’s victory over the Dodgers marked Bud Black’s 1,000th win as a manager, making him the 66th in history to hit the milestone. The experience took the skipper back to when he was 16 years old in Longview, Wash., coaching a team of 9- and 10-year-olds in the Western Little League.

Black was surprised to discover that one of his first lessons he picked up way back then is still applicable today.

“This is sort of elementary, but it was the importance of playing a good game of catch,” Black said. “Balls are going over somebody’s head. They’re short-hopped. You’re chasing balls. So, the first practice, I said, ‘We’re going to learn how to play catch and save some time here, instead of us chasing baseballs all over.’”

Longtime San Diego State baseball coach Jim Dietz, who passed away in March, saw coaching and managing potential in Black long before he pitched in the Majors.

“I played my first season in the Minors and went back and got my degree in the fall of ’79,” Black said. “While I was in school that fall, I was helping the San Diego State program with Coach Dietz. Back then, you had to be put on some tracking system to coach. Coach Dietz got me put on it.”

SHOULD WE TELL HIM?

Kris Bryant was a guest on MLB Network’s “Pregame Spread” on Tuesday to talk about the road trip and … offer his take on the infamous “delicacy,” Rocky Mountain oysters.

Queue up the 5:27 mark in this video to see Bryant’s answer.

TURNS OUT, IT WASN’T A GRAY AREA

The Rockies’ attempt to retain righty Jon Gray fell short this winter when the Rangers outbid them for his services. In a brief meeting with Colorado media at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, this week, Gray said the decision to leave Colorado was difficult.

Gray had publicly expressed interest in coming back, but talks cooled when he was placed on the injured list for a second time last season with a right forearm strain.

Unbeknownst to Gray, the Rangers studied every one of his starts, and this winter they made their interest clear — not only offering an appealing contract, but also suggestions on how he could improve being away from Denver’s altitude.

Gray entered 2022 with not only a new uniform, but with a new slider as well.

“It was my time to kind of move on, in a way,” Gray said. “Then again, the contract was so good — it felt great to have someone say, ‘We think you are this good, and this is why, and we’re going to help you get there.’”

Still, there were the teammates he left behind … but as it turns out, they understand the business side of baseball — and, most importantly, they understand the perspective of their old teammate.

“They were all really happy for me, and that meant a lot,” Gray said. “I went to a Super Bowl party at Kyle Freeland’s house, a bunch of guys were over, and we had a good time.”

TRIVIA ANSWER

The most single-season wins for the Rockies is 92 in 2009, before the team fell 3-1 to the Phillies in the NL Division Series.

THE ROAD TO ROCKTOBER … 15 YEARS AGO

Once a month, we’ll go back a decade and a half to the greatest year in Rockies history: 2007. The odd thing is, the way that year started, it was hard to see Rocktober coming.

The Rox stumbled out of the gate, going 10-16 in April … but one moment on April 29 should have alerted us that something special was happening.

Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki snared a line drive from future Hall of Famer Chipper Jones with no outs in the seventh inning. Within seconds, he secured three quick outs — the 13th unassisted triple play in history.

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