The Rockies’ Ryan McMahon is adopting a power hitter’s mentality.

A revamped swing and a clearer idea of his role have helped the Rockies infielder hit five home runs in his first 11 games going into Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium. That'll do a lot for his self-image as a big bat. But McMahon noted that there is value even in the times he didn’t execute the way a power hitter should.

“When I think of myself as a player, I think that that's kind of my gig,” McMahon said. “I’ve got a little bit of pop and the team’s looking for me to drive in some runs.

“I want to get a little bit better at taking shots -- not being afraid to look like an idiot when I get up in the count. There were a couple times I hit the ball hard in 2-0 counts against the D-backs. If I tried to play with it a little more out front, I might have done more damage than just lining out.”

When the Rockies dealt Nolan Arenado to the Cardinals and non-tendered David Dahl, who signed with the Rangers, where the homers would come from was a legitimate question. McMahon homered 24 times in 2019 and nine during the shortened '20 season. However, last season, McMahon's 66 strikeouts in 52 games were cause for concern.

The Rockies always believed in McMahon as a defender at second and third base, and he is confirming that. According to Statcast’s Outs Above Average, McMahon went into Wednesday a combined plus-3 (plus-2 at third base, plus-1 at second). At this super-early stage, McMahon was tied for the highest OAA among Major League players with the Dodgers’ Gavin Lux, the Mets’ Francisco Lindor and the D-backs’ Asdrubal Cabrera.

But he had proving to do with the bat.

McMahon has answered the call positively so far. In addition to the homers, heading into Wednesday's game, he led the Rockies with nine RBIs, had two doubles and, most importantly, had struck out just seven times in 42 plate appearances.

“We’ve seen growth in ‘Mac’ every year,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “We’re starting to see some signs with the swing and his at-bats that have led us to believe he is closer to fulfilling the potential that Mac knows he has and what we think he has.

“It takes time. He's had just under 1,000 at-bats. Usually, for me, it’s that 1,000-1,500 level of at-bats when a guy really starts to get what he needs to do with his swing, with his mechanics, with his approach, to really put his skill set to use.”

While McMahon likes what he has seen in the mirror so far, he knows pitchers will try to distort his reflection.

“This game is extremely hard, and there’s a lot of mental warfare that goes on between both sides,” McMahon said. “That’s the part that the really elite guys are good at. They stay locked in. That’s my goal.”

Seeing through the numbers
The season’s first two starts have been a self-evaluation challenge for lefty Austin Gomber, who will start against the Dodgers on Thursday night.

In his Rockies debut on April 4, when he walked seven in just three innings but yielded just one earned run against the Dodgers, the challenge was to find what went wrong -- considering walks were not a problem with the Cardinals, who traded him to Colorado before Spring Training -- and not overcorrect.

Gomber was much better against the Giants last time out, with one hit and two runs allowed in 6 1/3 innings. He walked four, which brought him to 11 walks in 9 1/3 frames. That’s a bad number looking at a stat sheet, but breaking down the Giants start brought perspective.

“I thought it was a really good start,” he said. “I'm trying to keep less than one baserunner an inning. I threw 6 1/3 and had four walks and one hit. Those two runs that I left on base [in the seventh] were able to score, but I still gave up only two runs. So we were in the game.”

The Giants won, 3-1, because of Johnny Cueto’s 8 2/3 innings of one-run, four-hit ball.