TUCSON — Troy Tulowitzki arrived at spring training leaner and smarter.
The shortstop is carrying roughly 7 percent body fat and spent part of last weekend listening to stories and getting advice from 99-year-old basketball legend John Wooden.
“It’s an experience I will never forget,” Tulowitzki said Monday. “Just listening to him talk was amazing.”
What Tulowitzki took from this winter, if not Wooden specifically, is that improvement is paramount. Beyond winning his first Gold Glove and hitting well in April, Tulowitzki’s top priority this season is improving his baserunning.
Tulowitzki stole 20 bases last season, but was caught 11 times. Though he didn’t set an exact goal, his power makes a 30-home run, 30-stolen base season an outside possibility.
“I can’t say I want to add speed to my game, because I am never going to be fast,” Tulowitzki said. “But with all the sprint work I have done (this offseason), I think I can take it to the next level. If I said I was going to steal 20 bases, people would have thought I was crazy. I think I can do better. Every year I give myself a report card, and running the bases was an area where I wasn’t good enough.”
Tulowitzki’s season took off last year when manager Jim Tracy took over. Tulowitzki clubbed 27 of his 32 home runs for Tracy over the final four months, and he is entrenched as the Rockies’ cleanup hitter.
“He’s the whole package,” Tracy said Monday. “There’s no getting around that fact.”
Dex knows.
One spring after getting bigger, center fielder Dexter Fowler is thrilled to be leaner. Last February he reported at 193 pounds, after gaining 18 pounds in the offseason. This year, he’s noticeably lighter.
“I don’t even know what I weigh. But I feel like myself again,” said Fowler, who spent a month working out in California at agent Scott Boras’ headquarters.
Woe, Canada.
Pitcher Jeff Francis planned to wear a red Canadian shirt to work Monday. He figured he would be celebrating his country’s Olympic men’s hockey victory over Team USA. Not so fast.
“The one time I had to boast. This is terrible,” Francis said of Canada’s 5-3 loss Sunday in Vancouver.
From the moment Francis arrived Monday, teammates began ribbing him, even taping a copy of the sports page above his locker.
Footnotes.
Tracy, minimizing any negative effects from the cool, damp weather of recent days, said: “These guys come into camp in shape. It’s astounding.” . . . Manuel Corpas (tweaked right hamstring) threw his scheduled bullpen session with no problems. . . . Position players who haven’t yet reported are due Thursday, with the first live batting practice set for Friday. . . . For now, Ryan Spilborghs is keeping his batter-clip song a secret. But he is not returning to Gwen Stefani’s “The Sweet Escape” because he still doesn’t want to be known as the “Woo-Hoo” guy.
Troy E. Renck, The Denver Post
