Several comments from around the blogosphere have made it seem like it is the beginning of the end for Troy Tulowitzki. With interest in recent history, I thought it would be fun to go back a year and look at the comments about Tulo on insideTheRockies.com…
Last year on 4/19 the Rockies played the Giants with Jimenez on the mound and lost 6-3. Here are some of the comments on that thread about Tulo:
It’s frustrating to me to watch our 2 best player’s(Cargo and Tulo) see 6 pitches total in their final two AB’s tonight. That’s 3 pitches a piece. So, 6 pitches total in 4 AB’s with our best players. Talk about giving in. Talk about letting the other team off the hook. Talk about making it easy on the opposition. (Cameo)
Here is another comment about the same game from Matt:
And what was with Tulo not moving on the dropped third strike that got away from Posey. Not acceptable….EVER.
And another from Rocky:
Good pitching always beats good hitting, period (Cargo + Tulo = 1/14)
Any one of those comments can be applied to the situation we see Tulo (and CarGo) are in right now. Remember that Tulo ended the 2011 season as an All Star, 8th in MVP voting, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger and 4th in the top 100 on MLB Networks players list just behind Kemp, Verlander, Cabrera. He finished with a .302 average, 105 RBI’s and 30 HR’s.
Tulo’s explanation for his fielding errors have everything to do with it being mental. You make a couple of dumb mistakes and then start thinking about every throw. When asked if he was injured and trying to work through it (especially with the hip-flexor rearing its ugly head during the opening series) his answer to Patrick Saunders was:
No, I feel good…It’s all me. I’m the one making the mistakes. I’m the one not playing good baseball right now.
In another article on MLB.COM, Tulo expands on why he feels it is mental:
Sometimes, I’ll look back at a season and say, ‘Wow, that was a good fielding season. I didn’t even know I had that in me…Now that I’m off to this bad start and matched my error total, I know that stuff, but I’m also a fan of the game. I realize this happens. There are some pretty good players that this has happened to. It just hasn’t happened to me yet…It’s tough to sometimes just be out there and say, ‘Is this really going on?’ It doesn’t seem real, but it is…
The key to the whole thing, for Tulo, lies in the fact that it has gotten into his head on every throw now:
It’s the throwing ones that I’m sitting there thinking about…I’m taking the field and thinking about it. I never thought about defense. I just go out there and play, and if I make an error, I made an error. But I wasn’t worried about it. So, yeah, I think about it. It’s in my head. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t in my head. I think about it because I care.”
TULO POLL
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good posting Jaredean!
I didn’t see the option, “dude needs to lighten up and just play” so I said it’s mental…and who can pass on ice cream.
But seriously, anyone else just tired of year after year wondering when Cargo or Tulo will break out of their slump? How about just hitt .300 and 5 homers each month rather than waiting until June and then having a ridiculous streak?
Prog-my thoughts exactly. Maybe he needs to put Nuke LaLoosh garter on…should we send him one, courtesy of RWO???
I can’t believe nobody has pulled out this quote–”Half of this game is 90% mental” –Yogi Berra
Go Rockies!
Ike mentioned it in a previous column. Funny stuff.
I have to agree with Prog, you just can’t turn down ice cream…..
As to Tulo, the dude puts way too much pressure on himself. I personally think it may be an off shoot of micro managing by MMJT (Micro Manager Jim Tracy). He’s stated he wants the players to police the clubhouse. Since Tulo considers this to be his team, he has probably taken that responsibility on as well as try and hit a home run every at bat.
As someone said on another thread, just play the fricking game.
My advice to Tulo – See the ball – hit the ball. Catch the ball – throw the ball. Have fun.
YES!
I also voted he will be fine and I like ice cream. Ahhh hello Prog remember last season and ITR? Something I believe you came up with and I helped carry it on?
Lebronwitzki
Haha I remember lebronwitzki. I have faith that Tulo will learn to close sometime before his contract is over
wow, one vote for “i never liked him”…seems like we have some Giants fans doing a drive by on the site
You had a negative 1 rating for your comment Jared, probably another Giants fan, so I brought you back to 0.
Go Rockies!
I like ice cream.
I voted for it’s mental and I’m not worried. But maybe I’m a little worried about his throwing being mental. Someone a few days ago mentioned Steve Blass but I’m more worried that he will become like Steve Sax or Chuck Knoblech. I think both of them eventually got over it, but they played 2nd not short although I think Knoblech eventually ended up in the outfield.
If it continues will they think about moving him to the outfield. Great infielders have been moved to the outfield and still were great. Yount and Biggio come to mind. Yount is in the HOF, Biggio will probably get there.
I voted for “not worried” and “ice cream.”
I dont pretend to be a Coach, but one thing that’s clear when watching Tulo is that he throws from all sorts of different arm angles/slots. To this point, he’s gotten away with it ( to the point of being a star ). But since he ‘s a bit off track at the moment, I think I would tell him to focus on setting his feet and throwing from a repeatable ( and fundamentally sound ) arm slot for a little while.
Interestingly,the one thing Tulo has never done is make throwing errors!At least that’s what the ROOT crew has preached for the past 3 years,and I believe it has been true.That’s the part of the Tulo “problem” that does concern me.When he throws straight over the top,and trys to throw it right thru Helton he has ALWAYS been amazingly accurate.This year he seems to be throwing from all different arm slots,and often with less velocity.IMO.
Yeah Gary that is what bugs me too: this unexplained (OK maybe explained) + sudden fall-off in what has been the strongest most consistent aspect of his game. Hence the injury prognosis.
I’m with you there. I’ve bruised ribs before, and certain motions – throwing for example – hurt like heck. That could make you change it up. Curse you Ubaldo!
Ubaldo hit him on his glove arm not the throwing arm.
Just watched a few innings of the Braves-Dbacks game and the found out that the active catcher with the most runners caught stealing is our own Ramon Hernandez? I didn’t not know that bu† I’ve been mostly impressed this season with both Hernandez and Rosario with the exception of Sunday with Rosario catching Pomeranz.
Yup I have been pleasantly surprized by watching Ramon Hernandez, as I thought he was just an aging solid hitting catcher. But so far he easily is the best all around defensive catcher that Rockies have ever had – as he frames the plate really well, throws out a high percentage of base stealers, and seamingly calls a great game.
Nice job with this one DanO!
Tulo will be fine, we all know how hot he can get he will easily finish the season with
25+ homers and 90+RBI’s, the defense will also come back he’s great when he’s confident.
Look back at his history he typically starts off a bit slow and plays great baseball in august and september
GO ROCKIES!
All during spring training, I KNOW Tulo was limping. Ever so slightly but definitely a limp. Am not a Tulo fan, never will be, but I was actually glad to see him make that “bang-bang” play last night against Brewers. Maybe that is what he needed– not to have time to think.
Tulo and Cargo are both very good players, and for weeks at a time you could make an argument for either of them being the best players in the game. The problem lies in consistency. Fortunately, the Rockies have had one of the most consistent players in the game at 1b for the past 14 seasons. So we expect our stars to be consistent in that way. However, I’m not sure if Tulo or Cargo will ever be consistent like that. At some point they are what they are, streaky players who ride the highs and lows. What is nice this year is that we picked up another one of those illusive consistent players, Cuddyer. We need to hang in there as fans and wait for their hot streaks to come (they will come) and until then thank you Toddy and Cuddy!