Ryan Spilborghs completed one of the best weekends of his major league career, going 3 for 5 with a triple and two home runs in Sunday’s Colorado Rockies’ 10-3 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
The former Santa Barbara High and UCSB star raised his average 74 points in Colorado’s three-game sweep of the interleague series, finishing with a .291 mark. He went 7-for-12 with a triple, two doubles and three home runs.
“I can’t say enough about what’s going on with Ryan Spilborghs right now. I don’t know if you can do it much better,” Colorado manager Jim Tracy told the Denver Post.
Spilborghs said he never got down on himself during his rough spell at the plate — he hit .205 in April and .243 in May.
“Even when I was struggling, I bring a lot to the clubhouse,” he told the Post. “I’m not just in here goofing off. They know I want to help our team win. If I was a different type of person, I’m sure my leash would be a lot shorter.”
Spilborghs hit .287, .299 and .313 as a part-time player from 2006-08 before slumping to .241 last season.
He watched lots of video and took countless swings in the batting cage to figure out the problem. Finally, he said he changed the angle of how his bat rested above his shoulders. The adjustment shortened his swing and enabled him to drive the ball the ball to right and right-center field, where all of his extra-base hits traveled on Sunday.
“It’s nice to be back a little bit,” Spilborghs said. “The last year and a half, I was trying to get back to where I knew my swing was capable of being. I knew it was in there, but it was really hard to find it.”
