Colorado Rockies prospects: outfielder Raimel Tapia promoted to Triple-A Albuquerque

The Colorado Rockies will promote top outfield prospect Raimel Tapia (No. 4 PuRP) to Triple-A Albuquerque along with shortstop Pat Valaika. This comes in addition to the flurry of moves announced Saturday.

Tapia has hit .325/.364/.453 in 103 games for the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats this season while hitting eight home runs and stealing 17 bases. The promotion comes six years after the Rockies first signed him out of the Dominican Republic and three years after he made his stateside debut with the Grand Junction Rockies in 2013. Since then he has had a steady ascent through the Rockies system, riding his preternatural hitting ability to the top of the mid-season prospect rankings among various outlets, including No. 79 at Baseball America, No. 84 at MLB Pipeline, and No. 32 on Baseball Prospectus. Raimel Tapia is already on the 40-man roster and will therefore find himself as a likely candidate for a September call-up to the major league club when rosters expand.

Valaika, who received some down ballot consideration on our most recent PuRPs list, has had a productive year for the Yard Goats in his second go-around at Double-A. The 23-year-old has played in nearly every game, hitting .269/.314/.450 with 13 home runs, and eight stolen bases.

They join former Yard Goats pitchers Harrison Musgrave, Kyle Freeland, and Matt Carasiti, who all started the year in Hartford.