Michael McKenry (Transcript)

Robby Incmikoski: We're recording with Michael McKenry. Hey, Mac, tell me about hitting at Coors Field. Why is it a luxury for hitters?

Michael McKenry: It's because it's like the biggest field on the planet. A lot of people talk about the atmosphere, the air, because you're playing so high. It's the highest stadium. Obviously, it's really how big the outfield is.

Colorado has essentially three center fielders playing in the outfield because it's a benefit for them. But the field is so big, so just a lot of balls fall in, and guys play so deep.

I'll never forget, in 2015 when Justin Morneau won his batting title. I really think if he was playing anywhere else, he would hit .360. I think he hit .319 because he hit the ball so hard. A lot of balls were caught deep.

But there's also one thing that nobody talks about at Coors Field, which is, when you leave there, everything changes. If you're a good breaking ball hitter on the road, the breaking balls in Coors Field a lot of times back up, or they start as a strike and end up a ball, because you have to really focus on throwing different windows.

It's weird. What they're doing now is so cool. They're getting all extension guys, so guys that release the ball closer, because they found that the fastball, especially the high-spin fastball, actually is a mile or two faster in Colorado than anywhere else. They're trying to use it to their advantage, and they're pitching really well this year.

Robby Incmikoski: It's interesting. You say that about Morneau winning that batting title, and you were right. He did hit .319 when he won the batting title. You said he would hit .360. Can you just elaborate a little bit more, just into either the hitting mechanics or the ballpark factors of why you think he would have hit 40 points higher had he played anywhere else?

Michael McKenry: So Morneau is a gap-to-gap guy who had power to all fields, but he didn't have maybe that loft that a lot of guys have. So if you're going to utilize the air in Denver, you want some loft. Drew Stubbs was a great example. He crushed at Coors and he struggled on the road.

Morneau and myself, praise the Lord, in 2014 were hitting around .112-.123 on the road as well as at home. I really learned that from him and Michael Cuddyer - understand what you're seeing at home, understand what you're seeing on the road.

On the road, I trusted the breaking balls were going to break. At home, I tried to trust what I saw, because a lot of times the breaking balls would back up. The sliders would have more of a gyro spin, which is more like a bullet - would just kind of fall with gravity, but there it doesn't fall as fast. So if it was spinning, it was middle, I tried to swing no matter what, even if it was going to back up. You had to kind of change your mindset and change your eyes to tell your brain, "Hey, I'm seeing something different that I haven't really seen my entire life."

I thought he was immaculate. I learned so much just watching him and Cuddyer go about their business, and they allowed me to ask questions. We got in the cold tub after every single game when I was there for two years. Me and Morneau, we called each other cold tub buddies, and we'd just break down the game.

I learned so much. It was like doing my first post-games before I even took the job at AT&T after I retired, because we would just break it down, and it was all through memory. We'd walk through what we did right, or what we might do a little bit differently, and how we'd approach maybe the at-bat. He would give me advice. I'd give him advice. It was just a really cool thing to do, and I think that's something that's lost in today's game, Robby.

Robby Incmikoski: Yeah, no, I don't disagree with you one bit. It's interesting when you hear people talk about Coors Field versus anywhere else. How does Coors Field compare to like the other 29 parks for a hitter?

Michael McKenry: I'll give you another tidbit, and this is about Charlie Blackmon. There's nobody I've met that was more routine and regimen oriented, and that's the reason why he had success all the way through his career.

A lot of guys fall off in Colorado, especially after 7-9 years, if you look at it. He didn't. He would spend about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes every day during spring training and through the season on his body. He'd roll out. He'd stretch. He would be so specific that he would start out with releasing knots in the top of his back to make sure his arm's moving well.

This guy was just a freak about making sure that he was staying healthy. Part of it was because he got hurt in the minor leagues, and it was just in his head. He knew that he wanted to stay in the big leagues, because he didn't necessarily have the easiest ride to the big leagues.

When it comes to hitting in Colorado, there's a huge advantage for visiting teams, I think, as much as the home team, because when you come in and out so much, you never get acclimated. You never actually catch your breath as a whole player. Because you need to stay for a week, and if you leave for a week, you lose it after three days. You kind of lose that Colorado effect of that high atmosphere.

So you have some benefits, but you don't recover well. You don't breathe well. I never slept well when I went back to Colorado. I usually had to stay up to about three or four in the morning the first couple nights because I just couldn't sleep. For some reason, the light air just wouldn't allow me to sleep well.

There's a give and take there that people don't talk about enough. But when it comes to hitting, especially during the day, it's a different animal. And then also, you have all the different weather factors, right? It can start spinning there real fast when it comes to the clouds. Right above Coors Field, if it gets above that scoreboard, it may blow the opposite direction to what it's blowing on the field. So outfielders have a really tough time. The weather going from cold to hot to cool and then also no humidity - it just makes everything a little bit different.

Robby Incmikoski: Hey, tell me, you worked with them a little bit this year. Can you just tell me what your role was with the Rockies? I know it's a consultant situation, but you just did a little bit of work. Is that right?

Michael McKenry: Yeah. So I was a special assistant, and I just went in and tried to learn their processes and fill in where I can. So I was anywhere from their pitching hitting lab, which they just built, which is really, really sick, to out on the field helping run practice.

I got kind of in the thick of it through spring training and worked with the hitters. It was really just the start of a stepping stone to do more with them. Not really sure where it'll go, but I just want to be involved. I genuinely love being around the guys, helping guys that are trying to fight to do something that I was blessed to do.

Jack Colson always says, you know, we owe the game a lot. So any chance I have to give back to it, I want to. But I think more about the little Michael that, you know, wishes he had that little advice that a lot of kids aren't getting anymore, right? Because people are so scared to lose their job. They're so scared to say the actual right thing, which is not the way it should be.

It's not the way it was for some of the guys that helped me. I'll never forget that Clint Hurdle gave me real information my first year with the Pirates and then really doubling down in 2012 really helped me. So I just want to be a guy that can be very transparent and help these guys understand that, "Hey, you have one shot at this, right? Go after it, and the team you're playing for maybe isn't the team you're going to actually play in the big leagues with, or may not have a career with. So just understand you're playing for everybody."

Robby Incmikoski: Let me ask you this, Mike, how much do you think it helps? How much easier is it for the Rockies, do you think, to attract free agents, free agent hitters because of their ballpark?

Michael McKenry: I think back in the day, 1,000% - just like San Diego and even Pittsburgh could attract free agent pitchers. But now with analytics, I think that's kind of all come to pass because they have ballpark factors. They have all the TrackMan data and Hawkeye.

They can really understand who a player is based on who they really are, not necessarily the fact of the ballpark, because you sell by the data. I mean, think about the Blake Street Bombers in the late 90s, early 2000s and the numbers they put up. That's never going to happen again. They put in the humidor, and they track everything so much differently.

The biggest problem, like I told you, is if you go there, I think a short-term deal is probably their win, because guys don't want to sign there long-term unless it's for a lot more money. Because if you look throughout their history, there's so much injury issues, and they're still trying to figure that out.