Sitting in the dugout at Coors Field, the 35-year-old pitcher asked why, after all of his fame and success in his native Japan, he was pitching in the majors, 5,800 miles from home.

“I was in the latter part of my career in Japan, and I just didn’t want to have any regrets, looking back at my career,” he said, using Yuto Sakurai as his interpreter. “It was one of the things I wanted to accomplish.”

American baseball fans might know the basics about the man dubbed “Tommy Sugar.” For instance, he won two back-to-back Sawamura Awards in 2017-18, equivalent of the Cy Young Award.

In the World Baseball Classic in 2017, he was Japan’s ace. In the Sugano dominated Team USA, pitching six innings and allowing just one unearned run on three hits. Although Japan lost, 2-1, he struck out six — fanning Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado three times and Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich and Adam Jones once each.

Rockies fans have seen Sugano, who signed a one-year, $5.1 million contract, become the club’s most consistent starting pitcher. After tossing 6 2/3 innings of two-run ball in Colorado’s 3-2 win at Arizona on Friday night, he’s 4-3 with a 3.86 ERA over 10 starts.

In 2025, Sugano went 10-10 with a 4.64 ERA in 30 starts with Baltimore after signing a one-year, $13 million deal.

But his short stint in America doesn’t begin to paint a picture of how big a star the right-hander was for 12 seasons with the Yomiuri (Tokyo) Giants.

“He was the best pitcher in Japan for a decade,” said Ryan Spilborghs, currently a Rockies TV analyst, who played seven seasons with the Rockies and spent the 2013 season with the Saitama Seibu Lions of the Japanese Pacific League.

“It’s the equivalent of someone like Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, or Justin Verlander going to Japan after their elite run in the majors,” Spilborghs added.

But Sugano wasn’t just an ace in baseball-crazy Japan; he was baseball royalty.

He was 5 years old when he sat among the sold-out crowd at the Tokyo Dome to watch his uncle, in October 1995. Hara, a member of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame, was one of the elite power hitters of the 1980s. In his final game, Hara blasted his 382nd and final home run.

Hara played 15 seasons for Yomiuri from 1981-95, and won three Japan Series titles (1981, 1989, and 94).

Following his playing career, Hara became the Yomiuri Giants’ manager and managed his nephew in two separate stints (2014-15 and 2019-23). And Sugano’s baseball bloodlines run ever deeper. His grandfather, Mitsugu Hara, was a standout high school and college coach, and Sugano’s father, Takashi Sugano, pitched in college.

“Tatsunori, Tomoyuki’s uncle, was like the crown prince of baseball in Japan,” said Margaret Narumi, a television producer who worked out of Los Angeles-based NHK Cosmomedia America for 29 years, bringing Major League Baseball games to Japan.

“Not only was Tatsunori a super, superstar in Japan, but he was really good looking,” Narumi added. “So all of the girls were following him like crazy.”

When Sugano was 19, there were sky-high projections for him to become a great player. In 2009, when Tatsunori was managing Japan in the World Baseball Classic, he told Narumi, “My (nephew) is being groomed to play baseball. He is going to be really great.”

Along with expectations came scrutiny.

“Of course, Sugano, being the nephew, got a lot of pressure,” Narumi said. “The expectations were much, much higher than for any regular player. But he surpassed all of those expectations.”

After some initial media frenzy during spring training with the Orioles last year, the scrutiny died down. Media attention is even less with the Rockies, although there are usually a handful of reporters from opposing teams surrounding Sugano’s locker after he pitches.

“It’s a different type of pressure than I felt back in Japan vs. here,” Sugano said. “I was expected to win and pitch very well, every game. But over here, I’m feeling more like a rookie. I was a rookie last year, so there’s not as much pressure.”

Sugano comes across a pleasant, quiet man. That was his reputation in Japan, too.

Nobi Kuga, who used to work for the Yomiuri Giants as their North American liaison and coordinator, is a close friend of Sugano’s uncle and Sugano’s parents. Kuga also helps arrange Sugano’s accommodations in Honolulu, where Sugano trains during the offseason.

“He’s a very down-to-earth guy,” Kuga said. “He’s very quiet, but he’ll open up to his close friends. In Baltimore, he was very quiet, but he’s happy to be in the majors. In Baltimore, I’m told that all of his teammates liked him.”

When Sugano pitched through illness to notch his 150th win on May 16, the Rockies held an impromptu postgame celebration in the clubhouse at Coors Field.

Sugano said he was “thrilled” that his new teammates recognized his milestone, but he was also characteristically modest about it.

“I’m obviously happy about it, but it����ap just another win, so I want to look forward to the 151st win,” he said.

Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer praised Sugano for his businesslike approach to the game.

“He’s just the ultimate professional — on a daily basis,” Schaeffer said. “You can just tell he’s been doing it at a high level for a long time. We celebrated the 150th in there today, and I’m very, very happy for him. It����ap a great milestone, well deserved.”

Rockies veteran right-hander Antonio Senzatela, who notched the save to secure Sugano’s win, was awed by No. 150.

“That’s really big,” Senzatela said. “He’s one of the best pitchers over there in Japan, and he’s performing really well here in Coors. He’s a nice human being, a nice person. I love him, and I’m so happy for him.”

Sugano’s one big regret is that he never led the Giants to a Japan Series title, not even in 2020 when he posted a minuscule 1.97 ERA and 0.89 WHIP. But he’s proud of the legacy he left behind in Japan.

“The No. 1 honorable thing I could say about (my career highlights) is playing for the Yomiuri Giants,” Sugano said. “I have a lot of history there, for 12 years, and the teammates and the coaching staff that I met throughout the process is probably my No. 1 thing I’m most proud of.”

Sugano’s Star Power

During his 12 seasons with the Yomiuri (Tokyo) Giants of Nippon Professional Baseball, Tomoyuki Sugano was one of the best starting pitchers in Japan. A closer look:
• Two Sawamura Awards, NPB’s equivalent of the Cy Young (Sugano won back-to-back in 2017 and ’18)
• Two league MVP awards in NPB’s Central League (2014 and 2020)
• Eight All-Star seasons
• A pitching Triple Crown (2018)
• Four league ERA titles
• Two league strikeout titles (including a career-high 200 K’s in 2018)
Source: MLB.com

“People used to say we were the integrity of the game, that the umpires held the integrity of the game,” former Major League Baseball ump Paul Emmel told me Thursday morning. “And the integrity of the game is being removed from the umpires.

“You want to bring the technology to make people be better, bring technology to help me be better. But in this instance, I’m not sure it accomplished that goal. I think it’s removing the integrity of the game.”

The Rockies lift the lid on their 2026 season Friday in Miami with a pinch of history on the side. It’ll be the first regular-season MLB game in Colorado history to use robotic umpires — or rather, to use robo-ump oversight.

Major League Baseball this year , in which batters, pitchers or catchers can instantly appeal a ball or strike call at home plate.

All calls will be checked by a framework that utilizes the 12 Hawk-Eye cameras that are universal to all MLB parks. According to Baseball Savant, MLB’s advanced stats page, ABS will judge balls and strikes from a zone with a width of 17 inches (same as home plate), with the top of the zone altered by batter to 53.5% of a player’s listed height without cleats, and a bottom set at 27% of the player’s listed height. Strikes/balls are judged when a ball passes the middle of the plate, not the front of it.

“But each player has a different strike zone,” said Emmel, who retired in July 2024 “I don’t know if anybody (who calibrates ABS) has ever seen Greg Maddux, who can miss the front edge of the plate and hit the back of the strike zone. I don’t know if they’ve ever seen Justin Verlander’s high curveball fall from 12 to 6, hit the high side of the strike zone and then hit the catcher in the legs.”

Emmel, 57, isn’t some fogey and telling the tech kids to get off his lawn. But he is proudly old-school by nature. And an even prouder Artificial Intelligence (AI) skeptic.

The Michigan native, who made his MLB debut in 1999 and worked a World Series, three League Championship Series, eight Division Series and two All-Star games over the next two-plus decades, has seen some … stuff.

Paul recalled to me how he worked a playoff tilt once and was in the locker room pregame watching Yankees-Blue Jays on TV next to Joe Torre and Jim Leyland. All of a sudden, the strike-zone box disappeared from the broadcast feed.

“I remember calls being made,” Emmel chuckled. “And I’m paraphrasing here, but the person on the phone said that the person who set the box on the TV got tired and went home.

“So, we’re looking around the room like, ‘What?'”

Which, in hindsight, is how one becomes an AI apostate.

Look, Emmel never professed to be perfect, which is also his point. He’s been good, though —

His peers, past and present, have been getting better, too. In 2025, according to MLB, umps recorded a 92.83% accuracy rate on ball/strike calls, the best percentage ever recorded by the league, and up more than three points from 2016 (89.31%). The umpires’ 10.88 missed calls per game were down from 16.58 misses nine years earlier.

“I get it in tennis,” Emmel continued. “But what’s next for baseball (once this) conversation (moves) down the road? Right now, the only things that are out there and subjective are check swings and balks. How do you take check swings and balks out of our hands?

“I called a balk , and I was wrong. And I was right for the wrong reasons. Are they going to be able to challenge check swings? Are they going to be able to challenge balks?”

Curious, I reached out earlier this week to a current MLB umpire I know to talk about ABS. Citing league policy, he respectfully declined to comment. Emmel told me he thinks the crews dealing with the new tech are “less than cautiously optimistic … I would say very skeptical” about ABS going forward.

“We’ve seen boxes move each game. If you’ve got Aaron Judge (who stands 6-foot-7) and Jose Altuve (5-6), you’re changing the box … I know in and out, up and down. How do I know where your boxes are?

“You’re always going to have a pitch (being missed) here or there. But (with) the statistics in baseball, it all washes out in the end.”

Like a lot of us, Emmel jumped into some deep convos about the pros and cons of AI these days. He’s got friends who run businesses. He’s got friends in the tech industry. He wrestles with AI usage with UMPS CARE, a nonprofit founded by MLB umpires of which he serves as vice president.

“And I find fault (in some CEOs’) arguments,” said Emmel, who’ll host “On one hand, you can’t turn a blind eye to something new that’s coming through the tunnel. On the other hand, God creates us to be human, and that human interaction and that human empathy — those are things that aren’t computerized.”

Being 100% right on calls, being 100% certain, absolutely matters, Emmel says. But once you’ve opened Pandora’s box when it comes to homogenization in baseball, he wondered, where does it end? Variance, human variance, quirky variance, has always been at the core of The Show.

Baseball used to be the only major North American sport that didn’t use a clock of some kind. It’s still the only major North American sport in which the dimensions of the playing field vary widely by city and venue. Although Emmel wonders how long that last one will last.

“The argument was that in baseball, there are all these (quirks) we’ve used to elevate this sport in culture, and all those things were good,” Emmel said. “But now all those things seem to be bad. They didn’t have this technology back in the ’70s, when they were playing two-hour games.”

Which is why Emmel’s not a fan of the pitch clock, either. He says it takes away from conversations. And that baseball has always been a conversational game — pitcher to catcher, catcher to umpire, hitter to umpire, first baseman to runner, shortstop to second baseman, third baseman to his coach.

“The game’s gone silent,” Emmel said. “And I don’t think that’s going to save the game.”

The other day, to decompress, Emmel took a lawn chair out to a park, cracked open a 6-pack and watched some local kids play baseball. Know what? He didn’t yell at a single cloud. Not once.

“And I don’t know that I would get the same enjoyment out of going to a big-league game anymore,” Emmel sighed. “I don’t understand where it’s going.”

Explain, please.

“Not just be a player, but one of the best third basemen in the game,” the 6-foot-5, 230-pound Rockies rookie said.

On a rebuilding team, coming off a 119-loss season, Karros is intent on being part of the turnaround by playing 24-karat defense at the hot corner and becoming an offensive force — starting this season.

“Realistically, in order for us to get this team turned in the right direction, I don’t think it����ap just going to be a matter of, ‘Oh, this guy squeaked out a spot on the roster over this guy,’ ” Karros said. “It����ap going to take players taking a big step and showing that they are some of the best players in the game.”

During a one-on-one meeting early in spring training, he shared his lofty goal with manager Warren Schaeffer.

“I had this conversation with ‘Schaeff,’ and I told him that the expectations for myself are set at a pretty high standard,” Karros said. “We talked about what I wanted to get out of this camp. That, truth be told, I’m not here to beat out someone else or win a spot. I’m here to be a dude in the big leagues.”

So, does ‘Schaeff’ believe in Karros’ dude mentality?

“Oh, yeah,” the manager said without hesitation.

Rockies fans might be surprised by the spring bravado. After all, in 43 games last season, Karros didn’t exactly mash. After a hot start — 4 for 11 with two doubles in his first three games — he cooled off, finishing the season with a .226/.308/.277 slash line with four doubles, just one home run, nine RBIs, 15 walks (9.6% BB-rate) and 41 strikeouts (26.3% K-rate).

Schaeffer says those late-season numbers were misleading.

“Rockies fans, last year, watching Kyle Karros, have to realize that he was 20 pounds underweight and he had pretty much gone through his first full professional season,” Schaeffer said, noting that Karros was down to 210 pounds by the end of the season. “And getting called up, and getting thrown into the fire, without his best body, and without his best ability at the time? And still see flashes of good stuff? Kyle Karros has the potential to be a Gold Glove defender at third base for a long time.

“And he’s going to hit. He’s got long levers, he’s got the baseball acumen, he wants it. Now he just has to go out there and do it.”

Major League pedigree

A big part of that acumen comes from his father, Eric Karros, who played 14 seasons in the majors, most of them with the Dodgers. Eric had a career .268 batting average and slugged 284 homers. He said his son has the physical skills and intangibles to eclipse his career.

“Kyle’s desire to be great and be the best at whatever he does is 100%,” Eric said.

Eric and his wife, Trish, were at Chase Field on Aug. 8 last season when their son made his major league debut against the Diamondbacks and witnessed his first big-league hit in his first at-bat. There were hugs, and proof that there is crying in baseball.

In the dugout, after hitting an RBI single off Zac Gallen, Kyle made the mistake of catching a video of the TV broadcast.

“The camera panned to my dad and mom,” he recalled. “They were getting emotional. Then I started tearing up in the dugout. I was just trying to analyze how Gallen pitched to me in my first at-bat. I ended up walking away from the iPad with some tears in my eyes.”

Eric used to work overtime on his hitting, the very essence of a baseball cage rate. He was, and remains, obsessive about baseball, even now as he works as an announcer for select Dodgers games.

“Kyle’s very different from me,” he said, laughing. “I lived in the batting cage. Even now, I eat, breathe, and sleep baseball. That might be kind of screwed up. I don’t know.

“Kyle will take groundballs forever, and I know he will do anything to compete. But he knows how to get away from things better than I did. That’s good.”

At 19, Kyle was “kind of lanky and awkward,” according to his dad, who added, “Maybe people didn’t see the kind of body he would grow into.”

Injuries during his collegiate career at UCLA caused Kyle to fall a bit on the draft board, and he slid to the Rockies in the fifth round of the 2023 draft. But he rocketed through the minors.

He earned MVP honors in the High-A Northwest League in 2024, when he led Spokane to the championship by slashing .311/.390/.485 in 123 games. Last year, he impressed at Double-A Hartford, hitting .294 with four homers among his 23 extra-base hits over 55 games. In a 16-game stint at Triple-A, he hit .306 with two homers, four doubles and a triple.

When the Rockies shipped Ryan McMahon to the Yankees at the trade deadline, room opened up at third base. Colorado baseball fans, used to seeing sparkling plays, first by Nolan Arenado, and then by McMahon, could be in for more acrobatics at third base.

“I’ve heard people say, ‘At 6-5, there’s no way Kyle can play third base,” Eric said. “But, I know it’s going to sound corny, but Kyle looks effortless at third base, it’s pretty to watch. It’s smooth, that’s the best way to describe it.”

Growing pains

Regarding his son’s relatively rough start at the plate last season, Eric said he’s not the slightest bit concerned.

“Last year, getting a taste of the big leagues and getting called up when he did is probably the best thing that could have happened for Kyle,” he said. “The exposure he got, against some of the game’s best pitchers, showed that he can play at this level and hold his own.”

The pitchers Kyle faced during his first 43 games included Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes (the 2025 National League Cy Young Award winner), Dodgers ace lefty Blake Snell, three-time Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, and Dodgers’ World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

“Offensively, the production, obviously, wasn’t there for me,” Kyle said. “But honestly, I never felt like I was overmatched by any of the pitchers or pitches that I saw. And I faced some pretty legitimate pitchers while I was up.

“I do think there is some natural swing stuff that I had to clean up. I’m working on that. You have to, because you get a lot fewer pitches to hit in the majors than you do in the minors. So, when you miss your pitch, it����ap definitely going to make it hard. I definitely felt that. I’ll work to adjust.”

His manager expects significant growth this spring.

“Kyle knows how this game works,” Schaeffer said. “He knows that nothing is given to you. I think a lot of that has to do with growing up in the clubhouse, along with his dad. He gets it.”

First inning: bang, solo home run by catcher Hunter Goodman, his 31st of the season. Second inning: bang, leadoff homer by Brenton Doyle, his 15th. The Rockies led 2-0 against Giants right-hander Justin Verlander.

But, as usual, the Rockies found a way to lose, or couldn’t figure out how to win. Take your pick.

The Giants had only four hits, but it was enough to win, 4-3, and send the Rockies to their 118th loss of the season. The Rockies are limping toward Sunday’s finish line with losses in 11 of their last 13 games with a 4-20 record in September.

“I’ve said it over and over again this season, but we have to complete baseball games every single (day), from start to finish,” said veteran left-hander Kyle Freeland, who pitched six solid innings but suffered his 17th loss. “We have to play as crisp as possible and do the little things, pay attention to details. When you are paying attention to those little things, they add up and take care of the big things.”

The Rockies, per usual, rallied late. Jordan Beck led off the ninth with a home run off reliever Ryan Walker, cutting the lead to 4-3. Doyle followed with a double, and Kyle Karros drew a walk. Warming Bernable struck out for the second out of the inning, but right-handed reliever Spencer Bivens plunked Ryan Ritter, loading the bases.

In the penultimate game of their painful season, the Rockies were on the cusp of one of their most satisfying wins. But Ezequiel Tovar’s foul ball down the third base line was caught against the netting by Matt Chapman.

It was a bitter end to a well-played game.

“You want ‘Tovie’ up there, and then you want ‘Goody’ coming up, absolutely,” interim manager Warren Schaeffer said. ” ‘Tovie’ is a cornerstone of what we do, moving forward, and he could have very easily put one in the gap right there; that’s what we all thought.”

Toss out the second inning, and Freeland’s final start of the season was exceptional.

The lefty issued a leadoff walk to Chapman, which is always an ill-advised way to start an inning. When Wilmer Flores sliced a single to right field, Freeland was asking for trouble. He got it when Casey Schmitt mashed a 1-0 fastball over the center-field wall for a three-run homer and a 3-2 lead.

“There was just one mistake that was supposed to be a fastball down and away, and it came back over the middle and he put a really good swing on it,” Freeland said. “It makes it easier on them when it’s center-cut like that, but really, just one mistake on the day.”

Over six innings, Freeland allowed three runs on three hits with one walk and four strikeouts. He finished his season with a 5-16 record and a 4.98 ERA over 31 starts. His 17 losses are the most by a Colorado pitcher since Darryl Kyle had 17 in 1998.

“Kyle was up and down (this season), I think he would tell you that,” Schaeffer said. “He (provided) solid leadership. He posted up when other guys would not have posted up. Overall, he shows that he’s our front-line guy the majority of the year, and he posts up for us.”

An RBI double by Rafael Devers off Rockies closer Victor Vodnik in the eighth inning turned out to be the game-winner. Doyle dove for the ball in center field but came up empty and Andrew Knizner easily scored from first.

“I’m going to roll the dice and try to make that out,” Doyle said. “That’s just the way I play center field.”

Schaeffer was also on board with Doyle’s aggressive charge on the baseball.

“I think he’s going to make every play he attempts to get,” Schaeffer said. “And the wind was a factor out there today, big-time. From my vantage point, it looked like it was blowing away from him, but you always trust him to go after the ball. You can’t put the reins on him.”

Sunday’s pitching matchup

Rockies RHP McCade Brown (0-4, 7.54 ERA) at Giants RHP Logan Webb (14-11), 3.30)

1:05 p.m. Sunday, T-Mobile Park

TV: Rockies.TV (streaming); Comcast/Xfinity (channel 1262); DirecTV (683); Spectrum (130, 445, 305, 435 or 445, depending on region).

Radio: KOA 850 AM/94.1 FM

Trending: The Rockies’ starting pitching trio of German Marquez, Antonio Senzatela and lefty Kyle Freeland is the first trio in team history to lose at least 15 decisions in the same season. It marks just the fifth time it’s happened to a National League team in the Divisional Era (since 1969). Colorado starters have posted a 6.66 ERA, the highest ERA by a starting staff in franchise history. The previous high was a 6.19 ERA by the 1999 club. Overall, Colorado has allowed 1,017 runs, the 11th team in the modern era to allow at least 1,010 runs and the first since the 1999 Rockies allowed 1,028 runs.

— Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post

It’s not what he hoped.

Meanwhile, the Rockies will open their regular season on Friday afternoon against the Rays at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Many thought Veen deserved a spot on the Rockies’ 26-man roster after a strong spring training, including scores of fans. What does Veen think?

The corner outfielder, rated as Colorado’s No. 8 prospect by MLB Pipeline, paused for a long moment and chuckled at the question before answering.

“I guess there is really, kind of, no reaction,” he said in a phone interview. “I guess I kind of figured I was going to stay all through camp and make the team, or I was going to have to go play in Albuquerque for a little bit.”

Veen, 23, the ninth overall pick in the 2020 draft, put up solid numbers this spring. But it wasn’t enough to convince the Rockies’ brass to put him on the roster. The staff wants Veen to become a better situational hitter, shorten up his long swing, make more contact against big-league pitchers and mature as a pro.

Plus, he’s still a bit of a newbie. Injuries limited Veen to 65 games (270 plate appearances) over the last two seasons. In Triple-A late last season, he had just 92 plate appearances.

“He will go to Triple-A to hone his skills,” Black said. “Zac hit .220 in Triple-A, and there are still some things he needs to focus on.

“The strikeout rate was a little high here (29.6%) facing major league pitchers in Arizona. Zac realizes that (there’s) probably a little more time needed in the minors before he potentially gets an opportunity. Hopefully, he’ll force that by how he plays.”

When the Rockies traded presumed starting left fielder Nolan Jones to Cleveland for backup infielder and part-time center fielder Tyler Freeman, Veen appeared to have a chance to make the big-league team. Instead, the Rockies went with 23-year-old Jordan Beck, Sean Bouchard, 28, and veteran Nick Martini, 34, to pair with two-time Gold Glove center fielder Brenton Doyle.

During Cactus League play, and including Tuesday’s exhibition game against the Twins in Fort Myers, Fla., Veen hit .270 (17 for 63) with two home runs, a triple, four doubles and 11 RBIs. He posted an .812 OPS. He pushed the envelope on the basepaths, stealing nine bases. He walked seven times but struck out 21 times.

“I would say I had a very good and exciting camp,” Veen said. “I learned a ton. Being able to be around my teammates was a very big thing for me. And being around the coaching staff was also a very big thing.”

General manager Bill Schmidt saw growth — and room for more growth.

“(Veen) showed a lot of positives in this camp and improved from last year,” Schmidt said. “But as I told Zac, it����ap about improving his consistency in a number of areas.”

One of those areas is putting together more competitive at-bat vs. front-line starters. Ten of Veen’s 17 hits this spring came in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings when he was matched against second-tier or minor league pitchers. However, Veen’s first home run of the spring came against the Giants’ Justin Verlander, a future Hall of Famer.

“We talked about all of the things I need to work on, including being able to drive the run in and move runners along,” said Veen, who hit .333 (5 for 15) with runners in scoring position. “It’s definitely a big part of my game that I can improve upon.”

In short, the Rockies don’t think Veen is ready for prime time, which is why they went with Bouchard and Martini to begin the season. But the club did include him on their trip to Florida for their final exhibition game to give him a taste for the big leagues.

“They wanted me to be with team and experience the travel and see what the charter flight is like,” he said. “It was to get the whole experience. That was the idea.”

Veen hopes he’ll be experiencing the big leagues full-time — sooner rather than later.

“Taking the flight to Tampa and being in the locker room with all of the guys and just seeing everything and feeling like I was a part of things was plenty of motivation,” he said.

Monday at Scottsdale Stadium

On the mound: Top prospect Chase Dollander made an impressive Cactus League debut, giving up one run on two hits with no walks over two innings. He struck out three and threw 28 of 37 pitches for strikes. His one mistake was serving up a home run to Jung Hoo Lee in the first inning. … Tanner Gordon’s 1 2/3 scoreless innings was a mixed bag. He gave up one hit, walked two and struck out two. … Right-hander Dugan Darnell was charged with a blown save when he gave up a game-tying RBI double to Bo Davidson in the ninth.

At the plate: Outfield prospect Zac Veen and first baseman Michael Toglia continue to rake. Veen, batting leadoff, went 2 for 3 with a double and a stolen base. Toglia hit a first-inning solo homer off Justin Verlander in the first, Toglia’s second homer of spring. … Nolan Jones, penciled in as a starting corner outfielder, is still looking for his first hit. He was 0 for 3 with two strikeouts.

Prospect watch: Catcher Braxton Fulford, who caught Dollander last season at Double-A Hartford, got the start Monday. He and Dollander worked well together. Fulford went 0 for 2 with the bat. Manager Bud Black has been impressed with Fulford’s skills behind the plate.

Up Next: White Sox vs. Rockies, 1:10 p.m. (MST) Tuesday

Rockies probable pitchers: RHP German Marquez, LHP Austin Gomber, RHP Angel Chivilli, RHP Diego Castillo, LHP Jefry Yan, RHP Tommy Doyle.

— Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post

After striking out LaMonte Wade Jr. and getting Willy Adames to ground out to third, the Rockies’ prized right-hander fell behind in the count and served up a long homer to Jung Hoo Lee.

Next up was Giants All-Star third baseman Matt Chapman. Dollander’s fastball got away from him, sailed behind Chapman’s back and struck Chapman’s bat for a lucky strike. Dollander responded by fanning Chapman with a wicked slider.

“(Chase) was actually smiling after that pitch (that got way)” Rockies pitching coach Darryl Scott said after the Rockies and Giants finished in a 2-2 tie on Monday at Scottsdale Stadium. “Chapman was smiling as well. But Chase was like, ‘Ah, all right, whatever.’ Then he came back and made the next pitch.”

Dollander, 23, is projected to be among the best starters in Rockies history. He said he was unfazed by giving up a first-inning homer.

“One hundred percent,” he said. “That’s really important. … You’ve got to flush it and move on when that happens. I went back on the attack. You can’t get scared.”

He pitched two innings Monday, yielding one run on two hits with three strikeouts and zero walks. He threw 37 pitches, 28 for strikes, and was 6 for 8 on first-pitch strikes.

“I did everything I wanted to do,” said Dollander, who mixed a 98 mph four-seam fastball with a baffling curveball. “I misexecuted that pitch to Lee, but this is the big leagues; they are good hitters. I just had to stay on the attack.”

Scott was impressed.

“I thought he looked great,” he said. “The only hiccup was the home run, and that was just a young kid falling behind and (throwing) what was more like a strike pitch instead of staying aggressive with it.

“But he controlled himself really well. He came in from the bullpen really controlled. His delivery held. I thought it was a really good first outing for him.”

Memorable, too.

The Giants started veteran right-hander Justin Verlander, 42, who will almost certainly be elected to the Hall of Fame. Dollander knew he was matched against baseball royalty.

“That was awesome,” said Dollander, selected out of the University of Tennessee with the ninth overall pick of the 2023 draft.  “Someone told me (Verlander) debuted in 2005. I was 4 years old at the time. So that’s pretty cool to be able to do that.”

Last year, in his first professional season, Dollander posted a combined 2.59 ERA with 169 strikeouts in 118 innings with High-A Spokane and Double-A Hartford. He averaged 12.9 strikeouts and 3.6 walks per nine innings.

The Rockies love his maturity and the polish of his pitches, but he admitted there were butterflies before Monday’s game.

“I would say a little bit,” he said. “It was a little bit nerve-wracking when I was warming up in the bullpen, but once I got between the lines, it was the same game: 60 feet, 6 inches.”

Scott was thrilled with how Dollander handled his first big-league test.

“That first game, he’s amped up, but you could see in the bullpen that there was a very distinct effort to slow himself (down) and make sure things were under control,” Scott said. “(In the game) he was landing those curveballs early. His fastball command was good. For me, that was a really good first outing.”

“Anything that I can do, or any of us can do, to bring eyes to the Air Force Academy is good,” Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates pitching phenom and former AFA baseball star told a crowded circle of reporters earlier this weekend at Coors Field, where he was supposed to

“Especially with how much it affected me. But I owe them that much.

“So I want to keep that going as long as I can because the tough part is, for me, I get labeled as ‘The LSU Guy,’ because obviously I got drafted out of there. But I’m just as much an Air Force guy as I am an LSU guy.”

Skenes found out last week that his scheduled spot in the rotation, Father’s Day at Coors Field, some 90 minutes — if traffic’s kind — up the road from the Academy, was being shifted from Sunday to Monday.

So he went back to his old AFA haunts on Friday morning. He took some Bucs teammates with him, including rotation mate Jared Jones, to see the old stomping grounds. They caught up with They saw his cousin, who’s now a glider instructor at the Academy. (Jones tried the virtual reality glider and landed successfully, Coach Kaz told me.) They walked around the Terrazzo. Mitchell Hall.

It was like dancing with a long lost love. While the cameras circled Skenes, , drawing comparisons to Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg along the way, the 6-foot-6 man-mountain with the rocket right arm almost got misty-eyed while talking about his Colorado Springs days. And what could’ve been.

“Definitely, as soon as you drive down there, there were some memories that popped up,” said Skenes, who played at Air Force as a freshman and sophomore (’21 and ’22) before transferring to LSU, the way station to becoming the No. 1 pick in the 2023 MLB Draft.

“Pretty cool, though, to get to go back now as a major-league player and think, ‘Wow, this is where it all started for me.’ Yeah, I was thinking about how I could’ve just graduated from there.'”

He might’ve, if the wingtips in Washington could ever figure out a consistent strike zone when it comes to service academies and pro sports. Last fall, the national defense bill that eventually passed a divided Congress included a provision that said any “agreement by a cadet or midshipman to play professional sport(s) constitutes a breach of service obligation.” In layman’s terms, that translates to two years of active duty, minimum, before the clock starts on a potential athletic career. Although the whole two-years-of-service-first thing has shifted back and forth at least a half-dozen times — required, then not required, then required again — over the last eight years or so.

Knowing that a junior year could be a mess, Kazlausky planned ahead. After Skenes hit .410, posted a 1.183 OPS and recorded 11 saves as a freshman catcher-closer with the Falcons, Coach Kaz pleaded to then-AFA superintendent Richard Clark to defer the required service time.

“I said, General Clark, this is the David Robinson of Air Force,” Kazlausky recalled. “‘This is the greatest athlete to ever come through our school … And unfortunately, the answer was going to be, ‘No.'”

Skenes, whose uncles served in the Coast Guard and Navy, didn’t ever want to flee Coach Kaz told him to go with his head on this one. Not his heart.

“He’s an old soul,” Kazlausky said. “He’s been put on God’s green earth to make a difference. And I’m not just talking about baseball.”

The big righty wound up with the Tigers, where he won the Dick Howser Award, was named the Most Outstanding Player of the College World Series and landed a $9.2-million signing bonus from Pittsburgh, the largest in MLB draft history.

“It shows you the type of coach that Coach Kaz is, to encourage him to pursue that journey and that experience,” Aerik Joe, his old AFA roommate, told me by phone from Japan on Saturday. “As well as what it says about Paul.”

Skenes stories are the stuff of legend now. When big Paul saw an opposing Mountain West women’s soccer player kneeling during the national anthem, he allegedly ran into the baseball locker room, grabbed the Stars & Stripes and brought it out to the field, waving it proudly during the match.

In 2021, after an attack in Afghanistan had taken the lives of 13 U.S. service members, at 4:45 p.m. the national anthem was played and the flag brought down. Skenes and his baseball teammates stood at attention. Meanwhile, up a nearby hill, Skenes could see two football managers in a video booth slightly slouched, distracted, eyes off the flag. When the anthem was finished, Skene went over and berated the managers for slacking.

“The kid’s an American patriot,” offered Ryan Rutter, Skenes’ commanding officer back in the day. “I don’t know any other way to say it. At a young age, he showed his colors to be red, white and blue.”

Things came so easy for a young Skenes, even at one of the most rigorous undergraduate environments in the country, that Rutter once asked the future No. 1 pick if he had any weaknesses that bothered him. This from a guy who hit .367 at Air Force and batted leadoff while throwing in the high-90s.

“I’m not that fast,” Skenes replied. “I wish I was faster.”

Rutter still chuckles at that one.

“Paul was ready to be a second lieutenant when he showed up here,” Rutter recalled. “He was ready to be an officer in the Air Force.”

Old classmates at AFA sent him photos from graduation last month. His mom still talks to their parents. He’s a patriot first, but pitching pays the bills.

“A big part of me wishes that I could graduate from there and be doing what I’m doing right now,” Skenes said. “But that’s not super compatible in a lot of ways. But (I) kind of got the best of both worlds.”

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Here is a very partial list: Miguel Cabrera, Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Justin Verlander, Joey Votto, Clayton Kershaw, Jose Altuve, Paul Goldschmidt, Madison Bumgarner, Manny Machado, Kris Bryant, Aaron Judge, Ronald Acuña Jr., Mookie Betts, Kris Bryant and Nolan Arenado.

Saturday night at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park, Rockies outfield prospect Yanquiel Fernandez suited up for the National League squad. There are no guarantees Fernandez will ever join the aforementioned list, but right now, he just might be the Rockies’ most exciting and dynamic player of the future.

The 20-year-old outfielder, signed as an international free agent out of Cuba in 2019, is turning heads whenever he steps on the field. He’s burst onto the scene like a supernova.

Fernandez began the season at Low-A Fresno and was quickly promoted to High-A Spokane, where he was named Northwest League player of the month for May. The left-handed hitter slashed .385/.419/.726, hit 10 homers and drove in 35 runs.

The 6-foot-2, 205-pounder with a golden arm needed just 58 games at Spokane to prove he was ready for the fast track. He was promoted to Double-A Hartford on June 20. In his first game with the Yard Goats, he hit a home run, because, well, that’s what Fernandez does.

He’s getting rave reviews from discriminating baseball men.

“Yanquiel is a special talent,” Yard Goats manager Chris Denorfia said. “He can impact the game in so many ways. The power potential is huge. He’s showing a developing eye for the strike zone and he has one of the strongest throwing arms I’ve seen, at this level, on any team.”

In 74 minor league games this season, Fernandez has slashed .304/.355./.588 with 22 homers, 15 doubles and three triples. He has more RBIs (77) than games played.

“It’s unbelievable,” Rockies farm director Chris Forbes said. “It’s been like a video game.”

Playing for the Yard Goats in the tough Eastern League tends to bring players back to earth. You can ask top Rockies prospect Zac Veen about that. And in Fernandez’s first 13 games at Double-A, he came back down to earth, a bit, slashing .244/.352/.578. Still, he slugged five homers and drove in 10 runs.

Jeff Dooley, the voice of the Yard Goats on radio and TV since 2015, and a minor league broadcaster for more than 25 years, doesn’t hold back his excitement for the prospect.

“Yanquiel is a special talent and he’s attracted some well-deserved attention for his monster season in the minors,” Dooley said. “It’s rare to see this kind of start for a 20-year-old kid. Rockies fans should be excited about his future.”

Fernandez is sure to experience growing pains, on and off the field. There are holes in his swing and he tends to be over-aggressive at the plate, which is fine for the low minors but can be exploited as he gets closer to the majors. He’s got raw speed but needs to figure out how to utilize it on the bases.

But the desire is there and Fernandez is displaying an aptitude for the game.

While playing for Spokane, Fernandez often sat on the bench next to Robinson Cancel, soaking up the nuances of the game. Before his first game at Hartford, while shagging balls during batting practice, he experimented with how the ball was bouncing off the walls in right field. He did that on his own accord.

“He’s unbelievably coachable right now,” Forbes said. “His time is coming, but let’s keep checking off the boxes.”

Making predictions about prospects is a tricky proposition, but a 2024 debut for the kid from Cuba is not out of the question.

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The Mets had taken a 7-6 lead in the seventh and the shouts of “Let’s Go Mets!” took over the LoDo ballpark. But in the bottom of the frame, the Rockies third baseman, who’s been mired in a deep slump for much of the season, hit a two-run homer deep into the second deck in right field off right-hander Jeff Brigham for the go-ahead run in Colorado’s 10-7 victory.

McMahon’s home run was his second in the last two games, that after going 103 at-bats without a homer.

“Anytime you feel like you haven’t been coming through for the team a lot lately … it����ap indescribable,” McMahon said. “It����ap a really good feeling.”

Manager Bud Black was happy, not with McMahon’s big at-bat, but with the approach McMahon had displayed in recent games.

“He can be productive like he has been (lately),” Black said. “What I liked was seeing him pull the ball, with authority. That means he’s getting the ball out front, which is a good sign. ‘Mac’ is capable of doing a lot of good things to help us win. So he’s capable of carrying us.”

Black won his 440th game as a Rockies manager, tying the late Don Baylor for the second-most in franchise history. Clint Hurdle has the most wins, with 534.

Colorado got two bonus runs in the eighth on Jurickson Profar’s RBI triple to score Ezequiel Tovar, followed by Elias Diaz’s single to chase home Profar. Profar extended his on-base streak to 34 games, the longest active streak in the majors.

Saturday’s crazy affair included a stellar start from Rockies journeyman Chase Anderson and a nightmare outing for Mets ace Justin Verlander.

Colorado looked to be on cruise control until its bullpen, which has been so sturdy most of the season, gave way in the Mets’ five-run sixth.

Lefty Brent Suter, who had been close to perfect over his last 15 appearances (one earned run allowed over 20 2/3 innings), was pounded for four runs on four hits in two-thirds of an inning, the big blow an RBI double by Brett Batty. Suter was lifted for Jake Bird, but Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez hit a three-run, 435-foot homer to left, tying the game at 6-6.

New York took a short-lived, 7-6 lead in the seventh off of Bird, who gave up a leadoff walk to Jeff McNeil, who then came around to score on Starling Marte’s single.

Anderson controlled the Mets for five innings, giving up one run on a solo homer to slugging first baseman Pete Alonso with one out in the fourth. It was Alonso’s 20th homer in 53 games. The only Mets player to hit more homers in the first 53 games of a season was Dave Kingman, who hit 21 in 1976.

Anderson struck out four, walked one and hit a batter. The veteran right-hander has been a lifesaver for a Rockies rotation decimated by injuries. In three starts since being claimed off of waivers from Tampa Bay on May 12, he’s put up a 1.72 ERA.

“It����ap humbling and I’m grateful,” Anderson said. “Coming to help this team out is the main goal. And being at Triple-A for a while, then getting traded to the Rays and being a reliever there, and then getting an opportunity to come here and start is very gratifying.”

It was surprising that Verlander, the three-time Cy Young Award winner, would take a licking at Coors Field.

In his two previous starts at the ballpark, Verlander was 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA and 14 strikeouts vs. just one walk. But the Rockies hit him hard and often, especially in their five-run second when they sent nine men to the plate and pounded out five hits. Nolan Jones, in his second game in a Rockies uniform, had an RBI single, Alan Trejo hit a run-scoring double to right and Charlie Blackmon crushed a two-run double down the right-field line.

Jones also drove home Harold Castro with a double in the third to give Colorado a 6-0 lead.

The Rockies, winners of 11 of their last 16 home games, have won five of their last seven series. With a victory over New York on Sunday afternoon, they can make it six of eight.

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