Jeff Bridich on Building the Rockies

Jeff Bridich has been entrusted to build a championship team in baseballs’s most extreme park-factor environment. The 38-year-old Harvard graduate is the general manager of the Colorado Rockies, who play their home games in spacious, hitter-friendly-to-the-nines Coors Field.

Part of the Rockies front office since 2004, Bridich was the club’s director of player development prior to assuming his current role in October 2014.

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Bridich on what has changed since he became GM: “There are certainly changes in the composition of the roster. Most noticeably, we have a different person playing shortstop. There’s been a focus, the past 13 months or so, on adding powerful, high-impact, high-upside arms. Ideally those are guys with some sort of readiness to compete at the major league level.

“You look at guys like Jairo Diaz, and the guys we got from Toronto (Miguel Castro, Jeff Hoffman, Jesus Tinoco), in particular. Also, the guys we added to the roster, Antonio Senzatela and Carlos Estevez, to protect them from the Rule 5. There’s been a focus on that.”

On if an ability to miss bats is more important at Coors Field: “I think an ability to miss bats is important anywhere. I think the playoffs have shown… teams that have been winning the World Series lately, like the Giants and the Royals, are tough in high-leverage situations. They do what they need to do to win, like not striking out, having productive outs — they do things to push across runs in difficult scenarios.

“The best teams are doing that, and the reason it sticks out is that the balance right now is tipping toward pitching. There are a lot of strikeouts in the game, so the teams that can do that effectively, especially in playoff situations, are the ones who seem to be winning. So, strikeouts are important, but I don’t think they’re necessarily more important for us than they are anywhere else.”

On Rockies pitchers having MLB’s highest walk rate and highest BABIP: “We did, and that showed up in our numbers. The free passes are an issue. Some of it was poor pitching. Some of it can be attributed to young players and the stress young players can face at the major league level when they first get there. But it absolutely has to improve.

“The batting average on balls in play — some of that is the luck factor, which ebbs and flows year to year. But we basically do control who we walk and who we don’t walk.”

On catcher framing in hitter-friendly ballparks: “Again, I don’t think it’s any more important for us than it is anyone else. Any time you can help a staff — and I think it goes beyond framing. The physical act of framing is one thing, but there is also the knowledge that exists, and the comfortability that exists between a catching staff and a pitching staff. That helps with framing — the ability to anticipate, the ability to set hitters up and know, ‘We’re going to execute this pitch here.’ All of that is vitally important. I don’t think it matters where you play, but it’s something that’s certainly important for us.”

On team defense: “We’re extremely happy with that. I think it’s been one of the strong points for this organization for many years, and it needs to continue to be. We play in a big ballpark. It’s something we stress — it’s something we pay a lot of detailed attention to — as our guys grow up in our system. It will continue to be a major focus for us.”

On if certain types of players are better-suited for Coors Field: “I’ve spent a lot of time talking about this over the past three months, from a pitching perspective. Our history shows that there isn’t one specific algorithm, or equation, for a pitcher that equals success here.

“For position players, yeah, I would say that there are. But that’s not something I wish to talk about here. Some of that is proprietary as to how we look at players.

“With both, probably the best answer is, ‘To a certain degree.’ A lot of what matters can’t be measured.”

On the team’s commitment to analytics: “It’s a growing part of our evaluation process. It’s part of who we are, our daily identity. We have a very strong scouting staff — I think we always have — from both a professional scouting and an amateur scouting perspective. Our goal is to grow our analytics process to the point where we feel as strong about it as we do about our scouts. We are taking steps to do that.

“It’s not going to be solved overnight for us, but we’re already moving in that direction, and we’re going to continue to move in that direction. It has been gradual over the past 12 to 18 months, and has picked up speed over the past six to 12. In terms of manpower and resources, and accomplishing some goals, step-by-step, it’s picking up steam.

“As organizations, the volume of information coming to us is incredible. The teams that figure out the practices of taking it in, and utilizing it to their advantage, are the ones with the most potential to separate themselves. Some teams already do it well, and are maybe steps ahead of others. We’re realizing that, and we’re acting on it.

“It’s a league-wide reality that, with TrackMan and all of the other systems out there, if you don’t set yourself up to handle this information, you’re falling behind in a hurry. It’s not like we woke up one day and realized this. It’s more a response to reality, and how technology exists within this industry. We’re working hard to make sure we’re keeping pace.”

On the emergence of Nolan Arenado, Charlie Blackmon and DJ LeMahieu: “I think you can add Corey Dickerson to that list, the only thing being that he dealt with some nagging injuries this year. But the development of those guys — a lot of their improvement has happened at the major league level, which is important. They’ve been more confident, more consistent, more complete players at the major league level, and that’s vital for our success.

“They’ve done it in different ways — they’re not the same person — but the common thread is how they work. It’s their attention to becoming better and being as good as they can become. They’re reaping the rewards of that, which is a credit to them, as well as to our coaches.”

On continuing to teach at the big league level: “If we are going to believe in — if we are going to live by — scouting amateur talent, drafting and developing them… that has been the backbone for most of the organization’s existence. If that sort of belief system were to come to an abrupt halt at the major league level, it would be a major issue.

“Our staff has to be teachers. They have to be focused on details and on continuing to develop players at this level. For us, it’s not going to work any other way.”

On player development and continuity; “You can have what you think is the greatest setup in the world — the greatest construct in the world — but if you don’t have people in place who are devoted to making that construct work, it’s not going to work. This is a people business. At the end of the day, it’s about relationships and commitment.

“I was the farm director here before I became the GM, and now our farm director is Zach Wilson. We worked together when I was in that department, so there’s a lot of continuity there. There haven’t been major changes to what we do and what we believe in.

‘One of the things we definitely try to institute — this has been for the past five years or so — is a focus on how we structure ourselves at different levels. Student-to-teacher ratio is a big thing. We pride ourselves on being an organization that promotes from within. We believe in our people.”