Mike Hazen dishes on Waldschmidt, rotation and more

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It's been a little while since we caught up with GM Mike Hazen, so let's start this newsletter with a Q&A with him …

MLB.com: How has Ryan Waldschmidt looked to you so far?

Mike Hazen: I think he's done a good job. He's controlled the strike zone and he's grinding at-bats the way we need him to. We're trying to anchor down that nine-spot at the bottom of the lineup to roll it over and have people on base for when the big boys come up. We're trying to get that more consistent, and he's done a pretty good job. We were clear on what we wanted the expectation to be for him, which is to go out and play great defense, which he has, run the bases well, grind out your at-bats. We tell these guys in Spring Training, we tell them in the Minor Leagues, that the expectation coming up here hitting ninth is not that you're going to go 4-for-5. The expectation is you're going to do whatever you can to help the guys at the top of the lineup have as many opportunities to knock in runs. That's your job, and I think he's done fine with that.

MLB.com: I know hitting is down across the game, but what are you seeing out of your offense?

Hazen: Offense being down is not necessarily the issue. I think it's the same things we've kind of talked about, like improving our chase [rate] and improving our walk percentage. That's something that needs to continue to push forward. But you're not going to go out there and get 10 hits every day. We need to be able to score runs at times when the environment isn't great for us to score runs. I think we saw some positive signs on this last road trip, which is good to see, but we want to see this now maintained over a period of time. I think we have the players to do that. I don't think we've gotten everybody kind of hitting together. I know that doesn't happen a ton during the course of a season, but it seems like we've gone through a period where none of them are hitting.

MLB.com: After some struggles, it looks like the rotation has stabilized the last 10 days or so. Are you pleased with what you're seeing from them?

Hazen: The starters are doing a good job. They're attacking the strike zone more. The efficiency is up, which is good. We've played really good defense, and I think that has contributed. That's kind of what we were hoping we were going to have, and those guys have been giving us a chance to win every single day, which is good to see.

MLB.com: Paul Sewald didn't blow his first save until just last week. What kind of impact has his success had on the bullpen as a whole?

Hazen: He's done a great job. He's really stabilized the back end. There's going to be days for every closer. So, there's going to be days like that, but he goes in there and he pounds the zone. We have a good defense, and he gives us a chance to win, and I think he's helped put some of those other guys -- [Taylor] Clarke, [Juan] Morillo, [Brandyn] Garcia, [Kevin] Ginkel, [Ryan] Thompson and [Jonathan] Loáisiga -- get into their spots, which I think is equally as important. Because the middle part of our bullpen has done a phenomenal job this year, which if we go back 365 days ago, is where we were kind of falling apart on a daily basis.