Amador putting in the work to improve defense

This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding’s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

DETROIT -- A slow offensive beginning at Double-A Hartford and a right oblique strain that has lingered have dropped infielder Adael Amador to the Rockies' No. 5 prospect spot and No. 90 overall, per MLB Pipeline. Hartford manager Bobby Meacham has convinced Amador to take this season as a learning opportunity.

Amadeo, 21, received a brief promotion to the Majors on June 9, but the oblique injury returned shortly after, putting Amadeo on the 10-day injured list on June 21. The Rockies decided to option him back to Hartford on July 3.

Instead of calling Amador up again when he reached full health, the Rockies kept him at Hartford, thinking that testing what he has learned while competing in the Eastern League playoffs -- starting Tuesday -- could accelerate his healing progress.

Amador’s batting average didn’t climb above a tame .200 until July 26, and he is up to .224 as of Friday. Even more importantly, Meacham and bench coach Luis Lopez recently met with Amador to acknowledge his effort on improving his defense as he completes the conversion from shortstop to second base.

“We’ve been seeing a lot of defensive improvement,” Meacham said. “We emphasized that all the work he has been doing during batting practice is paying off. This has been a good experience -- to get healthy, get better and get ready for the playoffs.”

These are his main defensive concentrations:

Range: During the callup, Major League third-base coach and infield instructor Warren Schaeffer encouraged Amador to use his instincts. Since returning to Hartford, he has worked on specifics to unlock his natural abilities.

“All the range he’s required to have is based on his first steps -- his pre-set position and how he gets ready to move on each ball,” Meacham said. “Once we got his feet moving, got him to a full jump step to help him push off and go left or right, his range got better by leaps and bounds.”

The double play: Meacham points to current Rockies second baseman Brendan Rodgers -- who converted from shortstop to second base and became a Gold Glove winner in 2022 -- as Amador’s example of a proper double play pivot.

Shortstops are often moving across the bag and toward first base, so they have momentum toward the throw. But Rodgers learned after moving to second -- and the Rockies are teaching Amador -- to drive his right foot into the ground to gain power on the throw.

“He wasn’t grounded well with his back foot,” said Meacham, who recalled having to learn the same positioning when he converted from shortstop to second base himself, while playing for the Yankees from 1983-88. “I told him I’ve been watching Brendan, because I like the way he turns the double play, and he has been working on it tirelessly. It’s starting to show up.”

Meacham's point is evident in the first photo.