COLORADO SPRINGS — It was a cold, windy day at Security Service Field last Sunday, a threat of snow in the forecast before the Colorado Springs Sky Sox’s game with the Las Vegas 51s.
Standing on the top step of the dugout for most of the Sky Sox’s eventual victory, dressed in a heavy pullover and tight ski hat, was former Rockie Ian Stewart. Two thousand miles or so to the east, under warm, sunny skies, the Rockies finished up a series with the Florida Marlins at Sun Life Stadium.
If Stewart’s mind also was in Miami with the rest of his former teammates, he could have been forgiven. It had been only a few days since Stewart was given the news any major-leaguer dreads: He was going down to the minors. The sweet left-handed swing — the one that made him the 10th player selected in the 2003 draft and helped him win National League rookie of the month for July 2008 and hit 25 homers the following season — had deserted him.
After getting two hits in his first 26 at-bats for the Rockies, including 11 strikeouts, Stewart was told April 19 he would be doing his hitting for the near future in Colorado Springs. After parts of five seasons making big-league money and enjoying all the other perks of being in “The Show,” Stewart suddenly was a minor-leaguer.
“It was tough, a humbling experience,” Stewart said. “But the fact of the matter was I wasn’t producing up there. That’s what happens when you don’t produce.”
But this story could still wind up with a happy ending. Rather than pout or get even more down on himself, Stewart has done what you’re supposed to if you’re a big-league hitter recently sent to the minors: He has torn the cover off the baseball.
In his first 31 at-bats for the Sky Sox and into the following Sunday, Stewart was hitting .419 with three homers, 13 RBIs and 27 total bases. It seems highly probable Stewart will get another chance with the Rockies or another major-league team.
Plethora of fixes
How did he rediscover his swing? How does any hitter get out of a deep slump? Ask any number of baseball people that question and you’re likely to get as many different answers. Some believe in obsessive breakdown of the swing on videotape. Some believe hitters shouldn’t study too much video. Some believe in mechanical, mental checklists, while others believe keeping the mind free of too much thought is the best remedy.
“For me, I think I just had to come down here and play,” said Stewart, 26. “I looked at tape of when I was swinging the bat well, just to see if there were any differences. Usually it’s just a slight mechanical adjustment. You don’t have to change your whole stance. I think it’s just the game of baseball. You have your ups and downs, but I had a big down and I need to get back up. I was hurt in spring training, and things didn’t go well to start the season.”
Ex-Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, Stewart’s first big- league skipper, has seen numerous players fall into slumps and doesn’t believe there is any pat answer in how to get out — even in today’s high-tech video age in which swings can be digitally analyzed to provide hitters with information they never had in his playing days.
“I think guys can paralyze themselves. I just think it’s a human thing that most guys have to get through,” said Hurdle, now Pittsburgh’s manager. “When we didn’t have video, you’d talk to other people — ‘What did you see?’ — and have to trust the guy you’re asking and hope he doesn’t play your position.”
Too much video
As a former hitting coach with the Rockies, Hurdle said he initially became too dependent on video in trying to help his subjects.
“I’d be looking long into the night, into the morning, at tape. I’d take it with me to the hotel,” Hurdle said. “I finally had to say, ‘Look, you’re not hitting.’ At the end of the day, pick a couple of things, give ’em one thing a day and then let it go . . . because we have the ability to make things more complicated than what they are.”
Stewart still faces the challenge of proving he can hit big-league pitching again. His current manager with the Sky Sox, Stu Cole, seems to think he will.
“He knew he had to come down here and work on some things, get better at some things, but he didn’t come down here all (angry),” Cole said. “That’s what the organization was looking for from him.”
Rockies first baseman Todd Helton has seen a few teammates alternate between Denver and Colorado Springs.
“It’s definitely a reality check, one of the hardest things you have to deal with, especially if you have young kids and have to root up and go to a bunch of minor-league cities,” Helton said. “That part I’m sure was very tough for (Stewart), but I’m happy to see that he’s gone down and worked hard and doing the right things to get back here. He knows he’s a big part of this team and that we’ll need him.”
A chance to recover
Rockies hitting instructor Carney Lansford said Triple-A shouldn’t always be seen as a drastic demotion for players such as Stewart.
“He was hurt in spring training and he fell behind. It was obvious when he was here, so we just needed to get him at a place where he was going to get at-bats,” Lansford said. “He just needed to go catch up, and it’s been good.”
Eating a plain-looking chicken sandwich from the meager postgame Sky Sox spread, Stewart spoke of the gathering hunger to prove he’s a big- league hitter again.
“I’m feeling good and feel like I’m swinging the bat well. I’m not panicking, not going home and kicking the dog or anything,” Stewart said. “But I definitely think this was a good, hard lesson and something I’ll hopefully look back on as being what I needed.”
Adrian Dater: 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com
