Third baseman wants to be golden fielder like teammates
By Thomas Harding / MLB.com



TUCSON, Ariz. -- Third baseman Garrett Atkins greeted the first official day of Rockies full-squad workouts by challenging himself to reach a new level defensively.

Last season, the Rockies'.98925 fielding percentage was highest in their history. Atkins noted that first baseman Todd Helton and shortstop Troy Tulowitzki have gloves of gold, even if they didn't get awards last season. He knows the Rockies believe Jayson Nix could be better than Kazuo Matsui, who committed just four errors last year, before departing for the Astros over the winter.
"Individually, I think I'm the only one that has stuff to work on," Akins said. "I'm going to have to step up my game."
Atkins, 28, is an offensive force. He hit .301 with 25 home runs and 111 RBIs last season, and that's counting a rough first two months. His .329 average in 2006 and .338 over the last 105 games last season make him feared by opposing pitchers and coveted by fantasy players. His hitting was key to his signing a $4.3875 million contract earlier this month to avoid arbitration.

But Atkins believes he needs to reverse the notion that he is a bad fielder.
To hear third base coach Mike Gallego tell it, the reputation doesn't match reality.

"I think Atkins is actually underrated as a third baseman, but don't tell him that," Gallego said. "If that's the attitude that he's taking, I'm more than happy with him having that attitude."
Atkins was a first baseman in college at UCLA, and struggled defensively throughout his Minor League career. When he committed six errors in 19 games during two stints with the club in 2003, and 18 in 136 games in 2005, Atkins effectively had a label that it would take years to peel off.
But he has improved. In 2006, he ranked eighth in the National League in fielding with a .953 percentage. Last season, he improved to .963 and fifth in the league.

He doesn't get to nearly as many balls as the Gold Glove winner, the Mets' David Wright, who had a .954 percentage, but had 431 chances to Atkins' 336 in a comparable number of games. But the balls Atkins touches aren't nearly the adventures they were in the beginning of his career.


Atkins errors have tended to come in bunches, but now they're more like small bundles. Concentrating on the basics should reduce the bundles.
"He'll go through some stages where you're like, 'Uh-oh, what's going on?" Gallego said. "For me, with Tulowitzki at shortstop, Garrett Atkins needs to make the routine play. Nine times out of 10, Garrett Atkins can make the great play. The great play, leave those to 'Tulo.' Let him make them.
"Garrett's come a long way. He's worked very hard. In the Minor Leagues, that was one of the things people said, 'Can he play third base in the big leagues?' He's proven a lot of people wrong. He's done a better-than-average job over there for me."

Atkins does not have the quick feet that are associated with great fielders, but Gallego is trying to develop quicker eyes for reading the ball off the bat. One drill Gallego believes helps Atkins is one in which the fielder counts the number of bounces the ball takes, which forces him to read it quicker. Another drill has the fielder with his back to the coach, and he turns on a command, spots the ball and catches it.
Atkins believes going to the World Series last season is benefiting him now.
"It was a short offseason, so there was less down time to get out of shape," he said. "I started at the end of the season working out. It's good like that."