Rockies Organization Report
Mechanical Changes Help Nix Improve
DENVER—At the start of the season, Triple-A Colorado Springs second baseman Jayson Nix was clinging to his spot on the Rockies 40-man roster.
By late May, with his batting average in the low .240s, Nix seemed to be losing his grip.
That’s when Sky Sox hitting coach Carney Lansford made some mechanical suggestions that transformed Nix at the plate and, best of all, changed his outlook.
Lansford watched Nix in spring training, skeptical of his extremely wide stance and hands held low, almost at his belt. Lansford saw a player who despite his strength had no home runs. Worse, with his hands so low, the 25-year-old had little chance to get the necessary backspin on a ball to make it carry over the fence.
“He’s still a little bit too spread out for me, but it’s working,” Lansford said. “But he moved his hands up to the launch position, which is where every hitter has to get anyway. As soon as he changed to that stance, even in soft toss (drills) in the (indoor batting) cage, I could say, ‘This is what he needs to be doing.’ He could get backspin. He could handle high fastballs a lot better.”
After struggling the last three straight seasons—2004 and 2005 at Double-A Tulsa and last year at Colorado Springs before a torn left anterior cruciate ligament injury ended his season the final day of July—Nix was hitting .289/.341/.444 with nine home runs and was 20-for-28 in stolen bases.
Nix, who Lansford called “the best I’ve ever seen at second base, hands down,” said he feels ready for a call-up.
"That’s out of my control, but probably for the first time in my career, I feel like I belong in the big leagues and I don’t belong in the minor leagues,” Nix said.
Rocky Roads
—Exploratory arthroscopic shoulder surgery revealed fraying but no labrum tear for Double-A Tulsa righthander Greg Reynolds, who is expected to be in top form on the mound around late May. The second pick overall in the 2006 draft, Reynolds went 4-1, 1.42 in eight starts.
Mechanical Changes Help Nix Improve
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PrintDENVER—At the start of the season, Triple-A Colorado Springs second baseman Jayson Nix was clinging to his spot on the Rockies 40-man roster.
By late May, with his batting average in the low .240s, Nix seemed to be losing his grip.That’s when Sky Sox hitting coach Carney Lansford made some mechanical suggestions that transformed Nix at the plate and, best of all, changed his outlook.
Lansford watched Nix in spring training, skeptical of his extremely wide stance and hands held low, almost at his belt. Lansford saw a player who despite his strength had no home runs. Worse, with his hands so low, the 25-year-old had little chance to get the necessary backspin on a ball to make it carry over the fence.
“He’s still a little bit too spread out for me, but it’s working,” Lansford said. “But he moved his hands up to the launch position, which is where every hitter has to get anyway. As soon as he changed to that stance, even in soft toss (drills) in the (indoor batting) cage, I could say, ‘This is what he needs to be doing.’ He could get backspin. He could handle high fastballs a lot better.”
After struggling the last three straight seasons—2004 and 2005 at Double-A Tulsa and last year at Colorado Springs before a torn left anterior cruciate ligament injury ended his season the final day of July—Nix was hitting .289/.341/.444 with nine home runs and was 20-for-28 in stolen bases.
Nix, who Lansford called “the best I’ve ever seen at second base, hands down,” said he feels ready for a call-up.
"That’s out of my control, but probably for the first time in my career, I feel like I belong in the big leagues and I don’t belong in the minor leagues,” Nix said.
Rocky Roads
—Exploratory arthroscopic shoulder surgery revealed fraying but no labrum tear for Double-A Tulsa righthander Greg Reynolds, who is expected to be in top form on the mound around late May. The second pick overall in the 2006 draft, Reynolds went 4-1, 1.42 in eight starts.
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