SAN FRANCISCO — Eric Young Jr. can flat out fly, so there is no way the Rockies are going to clip the kid’s wings.
“We brought him up here for his energy,” manager Jim Tracy said before Friday night’s game against the Giants. “When you have a talent like that at the top of the lineup, you don’t discourage that energy.”
Young had 303 stolen bases in 568 career minor-league games. But after getting called up from Triple-A Colorado Springs on Tuesday, he entered Friday’s game with no steals, having been thrown out twice. Once, he missed a sign and ran when he shouldn’t have. The other time, he was fooled by the motion of Dodgers lefty Randy Wolf and got caught in no-man’s land.
But those couple of early mistakes won’t deter Young, even though he admitted he was maybe a little too jazzed in his first few big-league games.
“You do want to come in a make a splash, but I have to let the game come to me and just relax and play baseball,” Young said. “Once I get my feet under me, they are going to let me go, because speed is such a big part of my game.”
With Dexter Fowler and Carlos Gonzalez out with injuries, Young started in center field again Friday night. The 24- year-old is receiving his big- league baptism amidst the fires of an intense pennant race. He wouldn’t want it any other way.
“This is why you play the game, to get called up and try to help your team get to the World Series,” he said. “This is a dream come true, and to get thrown right into it, that’s a blessing all by itself.”
Starter search.
Tracy is still deciding on a starter for Tuesday’s game against the Mets, but he knows for certain it won’t be Josh Fogg or late-game lefty reliever Franklin Morales. With the Rockies off on Monday, they can skip the fifth spot and go with a four-man rotation, for now. If that’s the choice Tracy makes, Jorge De La Rosa would pitch Tuesday and the Rockies wouldn’t need another starter until Sept. 5.
The most likely starter options until Aaron Cook returns from a sore shoulder are rookie prospect Brandon Hynick or veteran Russ Ortiz, recently signed to a Triple-A contract.
CarGo update.
Gonzalez’s left thumb looked like Barney the dinosaur on Friday — big and purple — so he was available only for pinch-running duties. If the swelling goes down, he could play this weekend and perhaps swing a bat, but the chances appear slim.
The outfielder jammed his thumb diving for a ball in center field during Thursday’s loss to the Dodgers. Gonzalez is hitting .379 since the all-star break, third-best in the NL entering Friday.
Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
