Rox incentivize hitting with 'competition within competition'

This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding’s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The sound of good hitting this time of year often comes after the crack of the bat and from the dugout in the world of the Rockies’ new hitting coach, Hensley Meulens.

The lazy sound of the first Spring Training games was noticeably pierced by noise from the dugout, not just after hits but after quality work by the hitter.

“I just have a way of rewarding the guys for everything they do good on the field -- basically from a walk to getting hit by a pitch to taking an extra base, a double, a triple, a home run, picking up the runner at third with the infield back and less than two outs,” Meulens said. “It’s situations in the game that show up all the time -- two-out RBIs, two-strike RBIs.”

In the early innings of games that don’t count in the final standings, even the most veteran of Rockies paid close attention to what did and didn’t show up in the box score.

“He’s really focusing on things that are going to help us score runs, but he’s not trying to reinvent the wheel,” Charlie Blackmon said. “Eliminating a chase here or there, over the course of the season is going to help you in the long run.”

But how did Meulens make the guys have so much fun with all this?

He had guys pick what could be called fundamental fantasy teams.

One morning before games began, guys poured out of the clubhouse for the theater, where meetings occurred, bantering about a draft. It was nowhere near time for a college basketball tournament pool.

Meulens had deputized Blackmon, Kris Bryant, C.J. Cron and Ryan McMahon to take turns selecting position players. Score is being kept on an internal system based on what Meulens calls TPAs, or “team plate appearances.” Each time a hitter stepped into the box he was batting for the Rockies but also for one of the internal teams.

Score will be kept throughout the regular season. And it’s being kept in the Minors. Guys don’t cheer against people on other teams picked by captains, since if other groups do well, the Rockies do well.

“They’re talking about it, moving guys and driving guys in -- that’s the idea,” Meulens said.

Every hitter is defined by his numbers, which can lead to isolation depending how he is swinging. Meulens believes something has to incentivize his leaning into the joys and struggles of his teammates. Yes, there is an individual component to the coaching of Meulens and his assistants, P.J. Pilittere and Andy González. But much of that is in the cage.

Starting with a player’s three rounds of batting practice, all is geared to competition. The first round emphasizes fundamentals, the second, the hitter is free to swing how he wants, and before the third round, Meulens gives them a fundamental to emphasize.

Among a population of baseball players, the best way to make sure fundamentals stay first is to insert competition.

“I’ve had my fair share of variations of this type of thing in the spring, but maybe nothing this detailed -- which is cool,” Bryant said. “The guys are having fun with it. They’ve got their charts and columns and tallies of all kinds of crazy things.

“When you kind of have competition within competition, you get even better results as a team -- where it counts."

In case anyone thinks it’s a childish game to offer professional athletes, Meulens can rebut with three World Series rings as the Giants hitting coach.

And Meulens, who is away from the Rockies managing The Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic, is the chairman of this fun board.

“Every inning when they’re coming off the field, I’m meeting them on the dugout stairs,” Meulens said. “‘Let’s go, let’s go … good at-bats.’”