Chad Stevens hopes to get a second chance to make a good first impression on his new team when the Colorado Rockies continue their four-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night in Phoenix.
One of the hottest hitters at the Triple-A level, Stevens owned a 17-game hitting streak when promoted from Colorado’s top minor-league team — Albuquerque — to the big club in time for the series opener on Thursday.
Stevens, a 27-year-old who played in five games for the Los Angeles Angels last season, struck out against Diamondbacks left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez in his first Rockies at-bat on Thursday.
Stevens later grounded out to first before leaving for a pinch hitter in the eighth inning of Colorado’s 2-1 walk-off loss.
The location of the promotion couldn’t have been better for Stevens, whose grandmother lives near Phoenix and attended most of his spring-training games in February and March.
In fact, after being informed that he would be starting at second base in the series opener, Stevens got a text from manager Warren Schaeffer saying: “Is your grandma coming?”
Stevens went just 2-for-13 with the Angels last season, became a free agent in November, and signed a minor-league deal with the Rockies a little more than a month later. He hit just .200 in the spring but drew 13 walks in 22 games, giving him a .429 on-base percentage.
That led to an assignment to Albuquerque, where he reached base at least once in all 39 of his games, getting at least one hit in each of his past 17 contests. He credited Albuquerque manager Matt Snyder for an analytical approach that’s worked.
“I wanted to dig into (analytics). And they were able to match that with biomechanics and sequencing,” Stevens told reporters in Phoenix. “There’s so much feel to hitting, which is great. But if you want to make a change, I feel like I want some data.”
If Stevens gets a second straight start in Friday’s rematch, he would face Diamondbacks right-hander Michael Soroka (6-2, 3.49 ERA).
The 28-year-old faced the Rockies on Sunday in Denver, going the first 5 2/3 innings of an 8-6 win. In beating Colorado for the first time in three career head-to-heads (two starts), he allowed just two runs, improving his career ERA against the National League West rival to 2.87 with a 1-2 record.
The Rockies are scheduled to counter with right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano (4-3, 4.02 ERA). He faced the Diamondbacks for the first time in his career last Saturday, getting the win in a 4-2 decision in which he limited Arizona to two runs in five innings.
The Diamondbacks have won five games in a row since losing to Sugano, a stretch that had manager Torey Lovullo was bragging about to the media even before the thriller on Thursday.
“We’re playing good baseball,” he said. “I love where we’re at right now. It’s as good as I’ve seen here in a long time.”
–Field Level Media
– Field Level Media
