DENVER – The Rockies’ Nolan Arenado, and some of the other top hitters in the game, have gained a greater appreciation for those Spring Training at-bats.

Arenado has joined such renowned hitters as the Brewers’ Christian Yelich and the Cubs’ Kris Bryant with less-than-overwhelming numbers in a 60-game schedule that’s more than halfway done.

Through August, Arenado found himself just missing pitches during games. While practicing, he has been constantly tinkering with his balance and weight distribution -- movements that showed he was having difficulty recognizing pitches. Would he have worked all that out sooner with the 30-50 Spring Training at-bats?

“I believe the season affects everybody differently, as we’ve seen throughout the league,” Arenado said on Tuesday. “It’s tough, for sure, on guys, and that first month has been tough on me. But I’ve also got to find a way -- can’t make excuses.”

Turns out, the difficulty might be explainable. Matt Trueblood, an author for Baseball Prospectus, wrote recently that his study of Statcast data revealed that hitters were missing pitches they usually crush.

Could going into the regular season with just a couple of weeks of intrasquad scrimmages not offered hitters enough repetitions to be ready for their pitch?

"What I found early in the season -- I believe it’s been less true over the last couple of weeks -- was that hitters were both swinging through high breaking balls and changeups more often than they have in the past, and doing far less damage on those pitches when they did put them in play,” Trueblood said. “I wasn’t able to rule out all other possible explanations for this, but the balance of the data suggested that it was because of the interrupted and unusual ramp-up."

Rockies shortstop Trevor Story said the theory makes sense.

“Coming from the layoff, right away the pitchers weren’t necessarily ready to get straight into live at-bats, which is the quickest way for hitters to get up to speed,” Story said. “It’s a tough act to balance -- keeping pitchers’ arms healthy and trying to advance to where you want to be as a hitter, in your timing and just feeling comfortable in there.”

Of course, all hitters are different. Some are crushing balls. Some aren’t. But in a lot of cases, simply saying a game is a regular-season game won’t quicken a hitter’s timing, no matter how much he may want to be up to speed.

But this much is known: The important last month of the season began Tuesday. If the timing doesn’t come then, it won’t. And Arenado feels better -- .462 (12-for-26) with four doubles in seven games leading into Tuesday.

“I feel better, yes,” Arenado said. “I know there’s a better feeling, but I’m happy my at-bats are competitive.”

Pillar feels up to speed
Outfielder Kevin Pillar, acquired from the Red Sox on Monday and in the Rockies’ lineup on Tuesday, said playing in the National League West with the Giants last season (after spending his early career with the Blue Jays) will help his transition.

“It makes it a little easier when you come to a team in the division you were in last year,” he said. “I don’t have to do anything crazy to make myself comfortable here. These guys got an opportunity to watch me play 17 times last year. It gives me a little bit of comfort, not trying to stress or put too much pressure on myself to try to go out Day 1 and be a hero.”

Updates
• Rockies outfielder David Dahl (lower back soreness) and utility player Chris Owings (left hamstring strain) played in a game at the alternate training site on Tuesday. Owings was allowed to hit, but not run.

• The Rockies optioned lefty reliever Phillip Diehl to the alternate training site. James Pazos was optioned on Monday, so the Rockies’ bullpen does not have a left-hander.