Rockies Farm Report: Field day might be in the works some day for the Rockies

Alright, I want to continue writing about Rockies prospects, I've just run out of the interest in doing recaps for games I'm not really that invested in. So instead, after some confusion, I think I'm going to let Bryan and the others cover the recaps, rename this the Rockies Farm Report and just write up on specific prospects. Today, it will be Thomas Field and Nolan Arenado,  tonight it will be more on the draft. Tomorrow, probably still more on the draft. Some day soon, Tylar Matzek.

In the past I've compared Thomas Field to Clint Barmes, because that's who he reminds me of as a fielder and just as an all around grinder. He's got a slick glove and should be able to compete at the MLB level with it. At the plate, it's a completely different story in a good way, as Field (after a blip last year) understands the strike zone in ways Barmes never could. Barmes' highest single season walk total in the majors or minors was 32, split between two levels in 2001 and he's collected 31 twice. Field already has 32 in just 51 games for a .441 OBP. While he didn't pick up anymore in yesterday's disaster for the Nuts, he did hit his fourth home run of the homestand and his team leading seventh of the season overall. Hitting HR's in Thurman Field is difficult. the most any Rockies farmhand has hit there is the 21 Joe Gaetti launched in the team's first season being affiliated with the Nuts in 2005, so seven at this point in the season by a middle infielder is somewhat impressive.

I guess in short what I'm saying here is that Field's pretty clearly taken a step forward this season. And if you're wondering if you should take him seriously as a potential help to the big league club down the road, I would say the answer's yes.

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In the two shortened Asheville games, Nolan Arenado had three hits and has now hit safely in 15 of his 17 games for Asheville, with multi-hit games in ten of them. At the friendly confines of home, of course, he's even better as he's hit safely in all ten games and has 17 hits in in 41 AB's. That's not a bad start at all for a 19 year old in the SAL. The two games he didn't get a hit in bookended the Tourists recent road trip to Savannah and Augusta, two of the more repressive hitting environments in the SAL. The short story is that the Rockies got a good deal with Arenado and he's right now on a pretty solid path to the MLB.

I saw Arenado DH a little over a week ago in Augusta and can attest he could be a major league level hitter, but he's got a very slow gait from home to first (a pre-draft scouting report last year said he was "duck-footed and lumbers") and he'll have to keep a careful eye on his conditioning. I've talked to some people that say he's a better defender than he looks like he'd be, but other reports indicate he's not exactly proficient. In our dreams we'd be hoping for a Pablo Sandoval type of player, but a short view on him might see a Brett Wallace type without as much power.