ATLANTA -- TJ Rumfield has found a routine that keeps his game steady, and it starts with a notebook.
The Rockies rookie said his daily writing helps him keep his head clear and his approach simple: attack strikes, pass on balls, and avoid getting greedy. That mindset has shown up in the numbers. Rumfield has been one of the most productive rookies in the National League and across the Majors, and he’s done it without drifting away from what works.
“It’s just trying to hit strikes hard and lay off the balls,” Rumfield said, discussing an approach that puts him at or near the top among rookies in both the National League and the Majors in key offensive categories. “If I feel like I can’t hit it hard, or feel like I can’t hit it, I probably shouldn’t swing at it.”
His production has been remarkably steady. Rumfield has kept his batting average above .280 since June 23, and since June 27 he has had just one day when his on-base percentage dipped below .370. Even without a home run since July 18, he has stayed locked into his plan.
As of Friday, that plan had him tied for first among MLB rookies in batting average at .290 and third in OPS at .822. He also led NL rookies in doubles with 26 and on-base percentage at .382, while ranking fifth in slugging at .440, second in RBIs with 61, third in hits with 133 and third in total bases with 202.
Rumfield kept doing his part Friday night, even though the Rockies fell 6-4 to the Braves at Truist Park. He opened the second inning with a walk against Grant Holmes, then singled in the fourth with one out.
In the fifth, he brought in a run with an infield grounder off Holmes to trim Colorado’s deficit to 4-3. He also drew a one-out walk against left-hander Ray Kerr to load the bases and help set up Willi Castro’s sacrifice fly in the seventh that cut the margin to 6-4.
Colorado still had a chance in the ninth, with Rumfield up as the tying run and one man on base. He hammered a Raisel Iglesias pitch into the ground, but Matt Olson made a diving stop at first and started a double play. Ozzie Albies then finished the game with a diving catch on a Castro line drive.
“We have a group of talented guys -- obviously, it didn’t go our way tonight, but there are a lot of good things that we can take away from this game,” Rumfield said. “We stayed in the fight.
But these are the games we need to win in the future if we’re going to be the team we say we want to be. So try to find little ways to compartmentalize this so it helps us in the future.”
The performance came a day after Rumfield walked four times and reached base five times in Colorado’s series-finale loss to the Nationals.
Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said Rumfield’s consistency stands out because he has not tried to become something he isn’t.
“It’s usually the veteran guys that show that they’re going to be who they are, no matter what,” Schaeffer said. “There are probably times that TJ has wanted to hit more homers or stuff like that.
But in general, he’s been who he is and stays within himself. That’s why he’s having such a really good year.”
That steady approach is tied to a habit Rumfield picked up with the Yankees, who issued journals to players after he was traded there from the Phillies in November 2021. Selected by Philadelphia out of Virginia Tech in the 12th round of the 2021 Draft, Rumfield has kept writing ever since.
He said the notebook gives him a place to sort out what happened that day and build from it, even if he doesn’t always go back and reread it.
“I try to write something down from the day that happened, and try to build off that one thing,” Rumfield said. “If I have too many focuses, things start to get away from me.
I try to do too much. Or, if I don’t write something down from a day, it’s like that day was lost to me.
“It might be like a journal entry -- just write the date and what I’m feeling that day. Even if I’m feeling something bad, I write that down and -- at least out there -- I can try to work on it.”
He smiled when talking about the small notebook, which he said he doesn’t bring out much around the Rockies because it has the Yankees’ interlocking “NY” embossed on the cover. He also joked that he doesn’t reach for the 3”x5” notebook much around the team, and said the pages are sometimes marked with crayon by Belle, the young daughter of Rumfield and his wife, Hayden.
Even so, the habit remains central.
“When you’re writing stuff down, it’s like it’s gone from thought to actual reality,” Rumfield said. “It’s like I have a vision board -- whatever I manifest for my future is what I write down.”
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