Troy Tulowitzki, who ramped up his rehabilitation Wednesday with a full round of batting practice, said that the Rockies’ fall to the bottom of the National League should force the team into changes before next year.

“I think that’s why I came out numerous times and said I want to win,” Tulowitzki said. “It doesn’t mean I want out of here. It means I’m sick and tired of losing.

“Something needs to change. Hopefully that comes fairly quickly. You can’t force it. But at the same time, we’re all frustrated with this year — especially me.”

When Tulowitzki rejoins the Rockies lineup, he’ll land on a team in the midst of a free fall. The Rockies entered Wednesday night’s game against the Chicago Cubs riding a five-game losing streak and losers of eight of their past nine games.

Tulowitzki said it’s important for the Rockies to show improvement over the season’s final weeks.

“Finish strong and end the season strong,” he said. “It’s been a rough year, but end it on a good note and head into next season hopefully things looking up.”

Tulowitzki’s .340 batting average and .432 on-base percentage remain the best in baseball. And his .603 slugging percentage ranks second. But the frustration of another lost season wears on the all-star shortstop.

“It’s very hard,” he said. “It’d be easy to just pack up things and throw these games away and say, ‘Hey, we’re out of this thing’ and move on to next year. But in that clubhouse, we need to finish strong and end on a good note. Some guys need to prove themselves for next year. And some guys need to get more experience to help out the team.”

Tulowitzki said the Rockies can build on the lineup that broke out to a 22-14 record.

“That lineup we featured in April, and some of our pitchers being healthy, was good enough to win,” Tulowitzki said. “But things kind of fell apart and fell apart quickly.

“But you look at the Red Sox and the things they did, they’re kind of the model team. They blew things up and then next year they’re right back in contention. So hopefully we can do a little bit of that.”

Tulowitzki, who’s been on the Rockies’ 15-day disabled list with a high thigh injury (technically, a left hip flexor strain), will begin defensive drills Thursday. If his lateral movement has improved, he could begin a minor-league rehab assignment soon, he said.

“I’ve been feeling good swinging,” he said. “I got to run a little bit (Tuesday), did a bunch of exercises. Hopefully (Thursday) I can pick up my running and see where I’m at.

“My swing feels great. Even a couple days after I injured myself, I could have swung if I needed to. It was just the running and defensive lateral stuff I needed to take it easy on. But it hasn’t affected my swing at all.”

The attitude in the Rockies clubhouse remains professional, Tulowitzki said.

“I don’t see any quit. They come out here and play hard every single day,” he said. “We’ve had some deficits we’ve overcome. And I think we would have (team) meetings if we didn’t sense that. We’re playing hard. And Walt (Weiss) has said the same thing.”

Nick Groke: ngroke@denverpost.com or twitter.com/nickgroke