Christian Bergman looks back on rookie season as learning experience

During a conversation in regards to his first season in Major League Baseball, Christian Bergman interrupts himself.

“It seems like I’m saying ‘learning’ a whole lot,” he joked.

Indeed, from his days at St. Francis High as an All-Area Baseball Player of the Year leading the Golden Knights to a CIF-SS championship game to his springs at UC Irvine, his summers playing in the Alaska League to his journey through the Colorado Rockies farm system, Bergman has been a student of the game.

That hardly changed upon his promotion to the big club in Colorado in 2014.

“Every level, it’s about learning. It’s just learning how to learn from your successes and your failures,” Bergman said just a couple of days removed from the conclusion of his first Major League Baseball season with the Colorado Rockies.

Selected in the 24th round of the 2010 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft by the Rockies after a terrific tenure at UC Irvine, Bergman navigated his way through the minor leagues with stops in Wyoming, Washington state, Modesto and Oklahoma before he became a member of the triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox in 2014. In June, Bergman got the call he had been waiting to get since his childhood days.

“I took the last few days to look back on it,” said Bergman on Oct. 3, shortly after arriving in Arizona to play with the Salt River Rafters in the Arizona Fall League. “There were a lot of good things, but there were a lot of things I need to work on. The biggest thing is I learned a lot.”

Bergman made his major league debut June 9 at home at Coors Field against the Atlanta Braves. He threw six innings of two-run ball for a quality start, though he was dealt the loss. He also notched his first hit. More than anything, though, Bergman stayed true to the approach that has done him well throughout his days on the diamond.

He kept his eyes and ears open, listening and learning, as he’s a believer that at the highest level, it’s the mental side of the game that outweighs the physical.

“Way more mental than physical,” Bergman said. “The physical side of it, in high school, playing, I was better than a lot of guys. But each level that you go up, there’s more guys like you and better than you physically. These days, everybody throws 95 mph. Why do some guys have success and others don’t? I think it’s the mental side of it.

“You just kind have to find that thing that works for you.”

Bergman turned in back-to-back quality starts to begin his days with the Rockies, but was then sidelined with a broken left hand (his non-pitching hand) against the Milwaukee Brewers.

After three major league starts and 15 innings, he was off to the 60-day disabled list.

“It was pretty disappointing,” Bergman said. “I worked pretty much my whole life to get there and it gets cut off right when I’m starting to settle in.”

True to form, Bergman took even his days on the sidelines as something to work with to improve.

“I just got to sit back and just watch the game,” Bergman said. “I was able to learn from that.”

On Aug. 24 at home against the Miami Marlins, Bergman made his return. It wasn’t his best outing, as he allowed four runs and nine hits through 6 1/3 innings, but he earned his first major league victory.

He followed it with his best stretch. In a no-decision at Arizona in his ensuing start, he allowed one run and two hits through 5 1/3 innings. On Sept. 3 against San Francisco, he threw another quality start, going six innings and allowing two runs for the win. Another quality outing, though a loss, followed against the host New York Mets, when he gave up two runs through six innings.

Bergman wrapped up his rookie season, in a way, where it all started. He made his first major league start at Dodger Stadium in the season finale for the Rockies on a Sunday afternoon. All didn’t go according to plan, as he took the loss and gave up seven runs through 5 1/3 innings.

“It’s still pretty fresh, so I’m not very happy about it,” Bergman said of pitching at Dodger Stadium, where he’d watched so many games as a kid. “Everything but the game was great.”

Overall, Bergman posted a 3-5 record with a 5.93 earned-run average over 54 2/3 innings, striking out 31 and walking 10 in his rookie year. Riddled by injuries up and down the roster, the Rockies finished 66-96 and in fourth place in the National League West Division.

“I wouldn’t say the mood in the locker room was a bad one, it was just disappointing,” Bergman said. “It just didn’t seem like we could get it all clicking at the same time.”

All but four MLB teams have concluded their seasons now, but Bergman’s still at it in the Arizona Fall League.

“For me, I’ll be kind of making up for the time spent on the DL and taking the opportunity to work on what I want to work on,” Bergman said. “The fall league is the perfect opportunity to learn those things.”

An eight-team league that runs through mid-November, the fall league is a chance to improve and to further a player’s claim for a spot on the big league roster. The Rafters are comprised of players from the Rockies, Minnesota Twins, Miami Marlins, Houston Astros and Arizona Diamondbacks.

Thus far, Bergman has made two relief appearances. He had a tough inning in his debut Oct. 8, giving up three hits and two runs. In his second appearance Oct. 11, though, he bounced back with two shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out one.

“The way I’m looking at it now, I don’t have a spot secured on the roster, so I’m going to take every day to get ready and prepared for spring training,” Bergman said.

Indeed, Bergman has his sights set forward. But he’s still had time to look back. As for what looms largest as the highlight for his rookie season?

“The easy answer would be my debut,” Bergman said before thinking on it a bit more. “It probably was my debut. The sun seemed to shine a little brighter that day. Everything went pretty well.

“It was a very surreal day. Starting going back to St. Francis and even before that and to think it was really happening; I wasn’t laying back at night thinking about it. It was a good day.”