Colonel prepares for offseason

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POCATELLO -- Christian Colonel seethed with frustration in the driver's seat of his rented SUV.

The American Falls native had piled up All-Star numbers for the Colorado Rockies' Triple-A affiliate, trying his hand at whatever positions they wanted him to all year long. And here he was after the end of the minor league season in early September, driving not to Coors Field in Denver but -- most cruelly -- right past the ballpark on Interstate 25 back to Pocatello.

How could this be?

"It was a whirlwind of emotions for me," Colonel said. "On the drive home, it was kind of depressing, you know. It was like, well, what was this year good for, if I didn't get to the big leagues? If I had such a good year at the Triple-A level, what has it gotten me? It really didn't get me anything this year."

Colonel's frustration mostly has subsided, but his confusion remains. With cars zipping by in the background on a recent Monday, he squatted on a roadside curb outside Buddy's Italian Restaurant and pondered: What more must he do to earn a promotion to the big leagues?

In his first season with the Colorado Springs (Colo.) Sky Sox, Colonel piled up numbers not unlike the ones from his breakthrough campaign in 2007 with the Double-A Tulsa (Okla.) Drillers. But now 26 years old and having completed his sixth year as a minor leaguer, Colonel is still waiting to play his first game in a Rockies uniform.

This offseason, then, will look somewhat different from Colonel's previous ones. His following months will consist of a stint in the Venezuelan Winter League, as well as what he promises to be the most intense workouts of his life. The one constant: his familiar hope that a winter of weight lifting, speed drills and hitting will pay off the following season.

"I know my shot's going to come eventually; it's going to work out," Colonel said. "I just really thought it was going to be this year."

It was with that mindset that he walked into Sky Sox manager Tom Runnells' office in the Las Vegas 51s visiting clubhouse Sept. 1, after the teams had played their final game.

As that date approached, a mixture of nerves and anticipation increasingly had gripped Colonel, even as he was putting the finishing touches on a season in which he started for the Pacific Coast League team in the Triple-A All-Star game. A utility player, Colonel slugged .308 with 12 home runs and 65 RBI in 117 games, with his numbers soaring after he began playing regularly midway through the season.

Having piled up the best stat line of his career, Colonel knew Runnells would either deliver one of the best pieces of news in his life, or one of the most crushing.

It was the latter.

Runnells explained what the Rockies had hinted at in the previous few days: The team, stocked with infielders, couldn't accomodate Colonel.

"I feel for the players," said Marc Gustafson, the Rockies' director of player development, by phone. "In my position, I'd love to have them all up here enjoying the big-league atmosphere, but I know that's not the reality of the business."

Colonel's first reaction, naturally, was to seek solace in the sound of his wife Carlie's voice, as well as those of his parents.

His father, Jay, perhaps was in the best position to console him. He had watched his son develop from a College of Southern Idaho and Texas Tech standout to a fifth-round Rockies draft pick to now, a slugger excruciatingly close to the major league dream he had harbored his entire life. Jay Colonel told his son that Sept. 1, 2008, simply was another stop along the journey. He still had the power to script its ending.

"Like all dads, we all celebrate our children's successes, and we try to soften their disappointment," Jay Colonel said. "It just takes us a couple of breaths and gnashing of teeth before you say, 'I did the best that I could.'"

His pent-up emotions spent from the phone conversations, Christian Colonel could do little else but tidy up his Colorado Springs apartment the next day, pack up his belongings and begin the long drive home.

Colonel couldn't be much farther from a major league ballpark living in Pocatello, but maybe he's better off that way.

He still logs on to the Internet to see how his buddies are faring in the big leagues. Colonel has spent countless days dressing alongside Ian Stewart, Joe Koshansky and his road roommate Steven Register in dingy minor league clubhouses across the nation. He has only kind wishes for them now that they get to enjoy Coors Field's lush, purple-carpeted one.

But looking up major league box scores isn't a completely innocent activity for Colonel. Just the other day, clicking on a San Diego Padres game revealed they had promoted second baseman Matt Antonelli, who had batted just .215 in his initial Triple-A campaign. It was the latest stinging example of a player Colonel had outplayed in the minors but who had reached the majors earlier.

Colonel insists he doesn't want a trade from the Rockies, but it is no wonder he doesn't watch them -- and any baseball at all, really -- on television these days, either.

"I'm the right guy at the wrong time, I guess," Colonel said. "It's not necessarily their fault. It's not my fault. It's just I wish it was a different time and Rockies generation where they didn't have so many utility guys. What it really breaks down to is, it's just bad timing."

It's not Denver, but it will suffice. Colonel has signed to play with Tiburones de La Guaira, a Venezuelan Winter League club based in the country's capital, Caracas.

The league begins play in mid-October and runs through December, but Colonel has the option of leaving after a month if he chooses. There, he will share the field with players like major league saves record holder Francisco Rodriguez, a longtime Tiburones player.

Having proven he can handle Triple-A pitching, Colonel figures this, perhaps, is the next step in proving his worth to the Rockies.

"There's a lot of good pitching, a lot of Latino guys that are up there slinging fastballs 92 to 94, 95 mph," Colonel said. "It's not fun to hit off, but the more you see it, the better you get."

But it was with no small measure of reluctance that Colonel made that decision -- the thought of spending Halloween, his favorite holiday, away from Pocatello ripped at his heart as he signed the contract.

That's no trivial consideration. A first-time daddy, Colonel missed the first time his baby boy, Cooper, crawled around by himself in their Colorado Springs apartment in July. Carlie and Cooper then returned to the Gate City in August so she could begin her job as Franklin Junior High's cheer coach, leaving Colonel pining for them during the final month of the season.

Now 10 months old, Cooper has just begun muttering his first word -- "mama" -- and Colonel can just imagine how painful it would be to have to listen to Carlie describe their baby's latest adventures over the phone instead of seeing them for himself.

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