The Matt Bush experiment got off to a solid start. He pitched two scoreless innings, gave up one hit and recorded one strikeout.

Of course, it was against minor leaguers wearing Colorado Rockies uniforms, so his performance needs to be taken with a large grain of salt.

But he mostly threw strikes. And he had a curveball working. That’s encouraging.

Also encouraging was the fact that in two at-bats, free-swinging Rougned Odor took two walks.

Bush and Odor are at critical points in their careers.

Bush is trying to figure out whether he can become a starter. Odor is trying to figure out where first base is, he was on it so rarely last year. It was rumored that after his first walk, Odor dropped his bat and ran to third, but that has yet to be confirmed.

Baseball is a game of confidence. And little things like this go a long way to success.

The trick is being able to carry it over into games where the guys wearing the other uniforms are actual major leaguers.