This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding’s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The 1-for-8 performance in two starts in San Francisco this week was a rare dry spell for Rockies shortstop José Iglesias, who enters Saturday's game at San Diego sixth in the National League with a .306 batting average.

Interestingly, he has thrived in a couple of areas that Rockies hitters tend to struggle -- road batting average (an NL-leading .370) and with runners in scoring position (.472, second in the Majors).

An ability to adjust, honed over 11 Major League seasons, has helped the 32-year-old Iglesias, who kept his production going with a double during Friday night's 9-0 loss at San Diego.

“Even if I have no home runs, I do feel the best of my career,” said Iglesias, who has never hit more than 11 homers in a season, but has several seasons of high averages. “I understand who I am and what I need to do. I have a solid routine that works for me.

“I think it’s an accumulation of so many at-bats, and you never stop working.”

The Rockies have missed their big-bat signee, outfielder Kris Bryant, for much of the season because of a back injury. When Bryant does return, however, Iglesias, outfielder Yonathan Daza (.318 batting average going into Saturday) and multi-position player Connor Joe (.262 average) are the type of players that can turn Bryant’s swings into multiple runs.

Watching from up close, manager Bud Black notices Iglesias’ awareness.

“You’re seeing the ability to make an adjustment in the middle of an at-bat,” Black said. “In the bigger picture, he never really wavers from his approach, which is put the bat on the ball, hit to all fields, study the opposing pitcher, have dialogue with the hitting coaches [before a] series, pregame, in-game.

“Being on the other side as an opposing coach or manager, he was always viewed as a defensive player first. But he’s much more capable offensively than what I thought, and he was an over-.270 hitter in the big leagues. The thing that stands out for me, too, is the ability to hit good pitching and a good pitch.”