The attitude for winning in altitude

This week's edition of the mlb.com Statcast Podcast featured a guest appearance by Rockies general manager Jeff Bridich. Hosts Mike Petriello and Matt Meyers asked questions about the Rockies unique challenge of winning consistently in altitude, and a myriad factors that included fastball-oriented pitchers, spin rates, roster flexibility, how deep starting pitchers go into a game, and even two-way players.

I've known Petriello since my days doing the Dodgers pre- and post-game radio work, when his old Dodgers blog, Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness, caught my attention and became a must-visit every day. Petriello brings a thoughtful approach to his writing. It's both analytical and common sense. I've learned a lot reading him over the years, and so I was excited that he's doing a podcast.

Combine that with an interview with the GM of the Isotopes major-league affiliate, and of course I'm going to listen to see what nuggets pertain to us in Albuquerque. What I've learned about Bridich is that he keeps information very close to the vest. He's not interested in giving away any secrets or making sure the public understands everything he's trying to do for the Rockies. I respect that. So it's not a ground-breaking interview, but I'd recommend it anyway.

Here's a few bullet-point items that relate to the Topes:

2016 Topes preview: know your Tyler's

We'll start the in-depth position previews for possible Isotopes once we get to March, when we see the full list of invites to the Rockies spring training, and the dominos start to fall. But in the meantime, we're looking at some interesting storylines to watch.

Today we'll breakdown all the different pitchers named Tyler that could be coming through Albuquerque. Yes, this is a real post. There's four of them, three are lefties, and two are coming off major injuries.

Tyler Chatwood missed the entire 2015 season recovering from Tommy John Surgery. Before the injury, he was a member of the Rockies starting rotation and a pretty good one, too. In 2013, Chatwood made 20 starts in the majors, compiled a 3.15 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 5.3 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9. Chatwood began the 2014 season in the rotation and made four April starts, before requiring the elbow surgery. Teams continue to get more and more cautious with pitchers returning from elbow surgery, and this is Chatwood's second (he also had one in high school). As a result, it's possible that Chatwood makes a few rehab starts with the Isotopes before he returns to the majors. This Tyler is right-handed.