SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Bud Black is a baseball lifer, and smart enough to know that there’s still plenty to learn, especially about leading a Rockies team that plays 81 games at a mile above sea level.
While managing baseball at altitude for the first time last season didn’t change Black’s basic, strategic view of the game, he’s come to recognize that he must tweak his approach, especially when it comes to handling the physical toll on his pitchers.
“I think managing the game itself wasn’t drastically different, and there wasn’t a lot of new things I learned about managing a game,” Black said Thursday as pitchers and catchers worked out in a chilly drizzle at spring training.