Rockies first baseman Michael Toglia is back in Albuquerque and looking for answers

Michael Toglia knows the question.

Still, it was asked Tuesday afternoon in the Albuquerque Isotopes clubhouse. Over, and over, and over. Multiple variations of the same thing: What does he think he can do to fix his swing and get him called back up to the Colorado Rockies?

“I think you have to not focus on trying to get back,” Toglia said. “I think you just come down, focus on your work, do what you need to do that’ll inherently get you called back up. You know, everyone goes down for different reasons, and I think I know why I’m here, and I know what I need to do.”

While Denver media has asked about it plenty, the 6-foot-5, 226-pound power-hitting first baseman politely fielded the questions Tuesday from a handful of Albuquerque media getting its first at-bats this season with the former first round pick of the Rockies (2019) who was sent back to the Triple-A affiliate Isotopes on May 31.

When the brief media scrum next to his locker was over and reporters moved on to talk with other players, Toglia was heard telling a teammate, “They asked the same thing three times.”

Upon play back of the recording, it was actually four. Sometimes the reporters have some things to work on, too.

For Toglia, after hitting 25 homers in 116 games last season for the Rockies, albeit with 147 strikeouts (a 32.2% strikeout rate), a step forward was expected in 2025.

Instead, through 54 games, Toglia was hitting .194 with six homers, an MLB-leading 81 strikeouts and a 39.2% strikeout rate.

“Mike had some strikeouts, and we tried to be patient,” Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt was quoted saying in an MLB.com article after the May 31 demotion. “We thought, coming off last season, he was going to take a step forward. Ultimately, he took a step backwards. So we have to do a little bit of a reset, send him back down to Albuquerque and hopefully make some adjustments and see where it goes.

“We want consistency. We want him to figure it out. … I think there is a hitter in there. We’ve seen it at times, but not consistently.”

So, back to the Isotopes it is. A team he’s now played 133 Triple-A games for in parts of four seasons. And Albuquerque is a place he likes, but wasn’t looking to return to — a place where the constant scrutiny of his struggles gets reduced to dealing with reporters asking about it just once or twice a month.

It’s a place the Rockies hope he can find that great swing once again.

“Just rhythm and timing, you know?” Toglia said about what he’s hoping to find. “Getting on time again with the fastball, so I can build an approach from there. When you’re on time for a fastball, I feel like that gives you the best chance for hitting everything else. Also just using the whole field, not trying to pigeonhole myself in just one side of it.”

Through eight games back with the Isotopes — six at El Paso last week and two so far this week in Albuquerque — he’s hitting .281 with four doubles, one home run, 11 strikeouts and an improved strikeout rate of 30.6%.

Tuesday, in a 15-2 blowout win over visiting Oklahoma City, Toglia went 3-for-5, became the sixth Isotopes player to ever register seven or more RBIs in a game, and turned on a 101-mph Edgardo Henriquez fastball in the seventh inning for a grand slam — his first home run with the team since his return.

Wednesday, Toglia was 1-for-2 with a sacrifice RBI on a bullet line drive that had a 107-mph exit velocity off the bat and looked like a sure fire double, but instead was tracked down on a full sprint by (the appropriately named) OKC centerfielder James Outman.

Nevertheless, the swing is working its way in the right direction for Toglia who, other than when repetitive reporters are around, seems to be happy and focused on the task at hand.

“I mean, these are a lot of my best friends here,” he said. “I’m comfortable being around these guys. And it’s still baseball, and it’s what I love doing. ... So, it’s still fun for me.”

DENVER DÉJÀ VU: Tuesday night, as the Isotopes were comfortably waiting out a rain delay in the clubhouse while holding on to a 15-2 lead in the 8th inning (a delay that eventually led to the game being called, giving the home team officially a 15-2 win in 7 innings), they tuned into so see how the parent club was doing up the road in Denver.

The Rockies, up 5-2 heading into the ninth inning, gave up four runs and lost to the visiting San Francisco Giants, 6-5.

Well, the Triple-A affiliate followed suit about 16 hours later, allowing a four-run top of ninth inning to visiting Oklahoma City to lost 5-4.

For those scoring at home, the top two teams in the Rockies organization — the big league club and the Triple-A Isotopes — in about a 16-hour span outscored opponents 9-3 in innings one through eight and were outscored 8-0 in the ninth, each suffering demoralizing one-run losses in a season both are desperate for some good news.