Rookie catcher Chris Iannetta was the wunderkind of spring training. Pitchers raved about his increased maturity behind the plate. Management projected him as the best homegrown catcher in franchise history.
But the 23-year-old is stuck in a nasty April slump. He’s hitting .120 (3-for-25), prompting manager Clint Hurdle to start Yorvit Torrealba on Tuesday night. It was Torrealba’s fourth start in the past seven games.
But Iannetta insists he’s not stressed out, saying he has taken wrong turns before and found his way back.
“When I was in high A-ball (with Modesto in 2005), I was hitting like .160 all the way through the middle of May,” Iannetta said. “Finally, I just went out and forgot about trying to figure it all out and started hitting the ball. I turned it around, and the rest of the year I hit great.”
He ended up hitting .275 with 11 homers and 17 doubles in 74 games before going to Double-A Tulsa.
Late last season, when called up to the big leagues for the first time, Iannetta hit just .091 (2-for-22) in his first six games, but hit .327 over his last 15 games.
Garrett Atkins, who struggled when he was first called up in 2003, offered Iannetta some advice.
“You try to tell all young players that everybody struggles and you have to believe in your abilities,” said Atkins, who hit .159 in his first 25 games with the Rockies. “That’s the big key. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with your swing. You just have to go up there, stay aggressive and the hits are going to come.”
Hurdle is happy Iannetta’s offensive woes haven’t crept into his duties behind the plate, but he wants to make sure the rookie isn’t buried by early failures.
“You just lighten the load mentally,” Hurdle said. “It might have spun out of control now, but it will be back in control one day. Give it some time. Get a plan and stick with it.”
Iannetta, who has been working extensively on his mechanics with hitting coach Alan Cockrell, said he’s close to breaking out.
“Right now, obviously, I’m not happy with the way I am playing, but I’m not worried about it,” Iannetta said.
Matsui update
The Rockies are crossing their fingers that Kaz Matsui’s stint on the disabled list will be relatively short. Matsui underwent an MRI on his lower back Monday and a Rockies spokesman said the test showed that the disc problem appears to be less severe than the one that sidelined Matsui for more than a month last season.
Footnotes
The Rockies entered Tuesday’s game with 95 strikeouts, most in the NL and third-most in the majors. … Here’s a major reason the Rockies went 3-7 in their past 10 games heading into Tuesday’s game: a .218 team batting average with just 28 runs scored during that span.
