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.

ATLANTA -- We didn’t know it then, but Michael Toglia sensed it.

The Rockies made Toglia a first-round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft, believing he could go a long way with his natural tools. He’s listed at 6-foot-5, runs well, and he has the wide-shouldered frame that can produce power. But a high strikeout rate early in the season at Double-A Hartford slowed his progress.

But around the time of the interview for the June 25 edition of this newsletter, Toglia had started understanding what would lead to the Major League callup he received from Triple-A Albuquerque on Tuesday.

“When we talked, that was right at the start of what was happening,” said Toglia, the Rockies’ No. 14 prospect per MLB Pipeline. “I knew that this was what was going to work long term in my career. It’s not the end all and be all adjustment, but it’s definitely going to give me a better chance to be more successful.”

Essentially, sinking his feet more solidly into the ground helped all the mental adjustments fall into place. Toglia achieved the incongruent goals of being more aggressive but striking out less. His final six weeks in Hartford, the strikeout rate dropped dramatically. There were Triple-A strikeouts -- 22 in 66 at-bats over 17 games -- but there was also damage. He had seven home runs, including three in one game (Aug. 27). 

“There was a better understanding of the strike zone,” Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt said. “If you look at some of the strikeouts early in the season, a lot of them were takes more than swings and misses. He became more aggressive and there were some mechanical adjustments we asked him to make, which he did. As the season progressed, some of the focus points we had for him, he took advantage of. 

“When he connects and hits the ball hard, it goes far.”

Toglia also had solid impact numbers from both sides -- .509 slugging percentage and an .845 OPS in 326 plate appearances left-handed, .515 and .873 in 120 plate appearances from the right. While the results were the same, Toglia said he had to make different adjustments from each side.

“That’s been the biggest thing, trying to figure out is it two separate swings or the same swing and I’m going to try to copy one side,” said Toglia, whose debut had him batting righty against Braves lefty Max Fried. “I’ve decided that they’re two separate swings. One side, your dominant side is your top hand, the other it’s your bottom hand. So, you’re two different hitters, and you’ve got to figure out the cues and feels that work for each side.”