Notes: Blackmon, Arenado, Owings

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Rockies manager Bud Black has shaken his lineup on several occasions, but right fielder Charlie Blackmon always rises to the top.

Expect Black to experiment some this Spring Training, but the reason behind that is not to change the daily mix.

Blackmon saw the number of games he played drop from 156 in 2018 to 140 last season, yet he saw increases in batting average (.314 against .291), OPS (.940/.860), home runs (32/29) and RBIs (86/70). Someone has to bat first when Blackmon, a four-time All-Star, is resting.

However, Blackmon can function anywhere -- as a 1.017 OPS in 42 cleanup plate appearances last year attests -- but his production in the first slot makes it hard to write his name anywhere else.

Since becoming the Rockies’ primary leadoff man in 2014, here is where Blackmon ranks, according to Stats Inc. (averages and percentages based on 600 or more plate appearances):

Home runs:
1) Blackmon, 147
2) George Springer (Astros), 122

RBIs:
1) Blackmon, 422
2) Mookie Betts (Red Sox, now a National League West foe with the Dodgers), 342

Batting average:
1) Jose Altuve (Astros), .329 in 1,080 at-bats
2) Blackmon, .309 in 3,237 at-bats

OPS:
1) Ronald Acuña Jr. (Braves), .954 in 858 plate appearances
2) Betts, .910 in 2,650 PA
3) Blackmon, .895 in 3,583 PA

No player over the last six seasons has led off as often -- or as effectively -- as Blackmon.

Black has dropped Blackmon and tried DJ LeMahieu and Trevor Story at the top of the order in recent seasons, with Story seeing leadoff at-bats late in the season, while Blackmon did his thing at cleanup.

There are additional options, as well.

Story has the speed and overall health that used to belong to Blackmon, who stole 43 bases in 2015 but has totaled just 48 since. But Story’s approach fits better later in the lineup, and Blackmon is, well, the game’s premier leadoff man. David Dahl, who joined third baseman Nolan Arenado, Blackmon and Story at the All-Star Game last summer, has experience at the top of the order in the Minors. Raimel Tapia has the speed, but needs to improve his on-base skills.

So there are alternatives, but there is no substitute for Blackmon when it comes to proven results atop the lineup.

"That's why it's a good situation because [in 2017], Charlie had a monster year -- led the league, over 100 RBIs [all but one of his 104 from the leadoff spot],” Black said. “It’s nice to know late in the game when that extra at-bat comes around, he’s getting it.”

Blackmon refuses to cling to a leadoff identity, so he doesn’t mind moving. But he also understands why he is good at it.

“I identify more as a baseball player,” he said. “I will adjust and figure it out wherever I hit in the order. I have the most experience from the leadoff role, so I’m comfortable there. I’ve said it before: It’s harder for someone else to transition into a leadoff role than it is for me to transition out of it.”

Arenado: No lack of belief in teammates
Arenado said that any offseason dissatisfaction with the front office had nothing to do with any lack of belief in his teammates' ability to bounce back from a disappointing 2019.

“I reiterated to my teammates that’s not where I’m coming from -- it’s just wanting to win,” Arenado said. “As a team, things happen, moves happen and it gives you a little bit of energy and it feels good.”

Arenado said the 2018 postseason, when the Rockies beat the Cubs in the NL Wild Card Game only to be swept by the Brewers in the NL Division Series, “was some of the best times in my life, and I want to experience it again and again and again, like some of these teams get to.”

Reunited
Non-roster utility man Chris Owings, who in 2016 with the D-backs led the NL in triples, is reunited with his then-hitting coach, Dave Magadan. Owings, 28, saw his career spiral after suffering a fractured right middle finger in 2017 that required two surgeries. He also tried changing his swing, but struggled with the D-backs in 2018, and with the Royals and Red Sox last year.

Owings moved to Virginia in the offseason, which made it easy for him to have hitting sessions with Magadan, who lives in the Tampa, Fla., area.

“We kept in contact this offseason,” Owings said. “Last year was my first year with a new team. It’s different when you don’t know anybody on the team. Coming over here, knowing ‘Mags’ and just being familiar with everybody on the team -- I knew these guys coming up -- it is nice.”