Baseball Prospectus released their latest review (subscription required and encouraged) of the Rockies minor league system, including their top 10 list. While the Colorado Rockies made the playoffs in 2017 thanks to a large rookie class combined with their huge rookie class from 2016, they still have a decent collection of talent left. This is a huge testament to how deep the farm system was before all of the graduations as most farm systems would be barren after the graduating so many prospects over two years.
The top two prospects on the list demonstrate that the Rockies farm isn’t just about depth yet. Brendan Rodgers and Riley Pint might have the highest ceilings of not just the prospects left, but also among all of the prospects the Rockies have recently graduated. Baseball Prospectus gave both of them OFP (ceiling) grades of 70. It’s not just about the ceiling for both of them as their “Likely” grades are still 60 and 55 respectively. The raw talent/stuff that both possess should carry them into a solid role in the big leagues.
Baseball Prospectus Top 10:
- Brendan Rodgers, SS
- Riley Pint, RHP
- Ryan McMahon, IF
- Yency Almonte, RHP
- Ryan Castellani, RHP
- Colton Welker, 3B
- Peter Lambert, RHP
- Garrett Hampson, SS
- Sam Howard, LHP
- Ryan Vilade, SS
The top 10 has no surprises though there may be some argument as to the exact ranking of the prospects; however, there might be a few names on the next ten list that would surprise you. That list was released in alphabetical order:
- Willie Abreu
- Yonathan Daza
- Breiling Eusebio
- Sam Hilliard
- Tom Murphy
- Tyler Nevin
- Dom Nunez
- Jordan Patterson
- Jesus Tinoco
- Forrest Wall
Like everyone else Baseball Prospectus is very split on what to think about Dom Nunez. Of interest is that their MiLB defensive metrics still see him as one of the best catchers in Double-A. The biggest surprise is that Yonathan Daza was probably their 11th ranked prospect based upon their second opinion section that Daza may have even belonged in the top-10. The Rockies addition of Daza to their 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule-5 draft makes a lot more sense if this is the common thinking among scouts.
The other cool thing that Baseball Prospectus does in their reviews is their top 10 list of all talents 25 and under. Only three prospects made the cut as the Rockies team is stacked with young players already contributing at the big-league level.
Top Talents 25 and Under (born 4/1/1992 or later):
- David Dahl
- Brendan Rodgers
- Riley Pint
- Kyle Freeland
- German Marquez
- Jeff Hoffman
- Trevor Story
- Raimel Tapia
- Ryan McMahon
- Antonio Senzatela
While it may be difficult for the Rockies to be one of the top 10 farm systems in the game currently, that’s hardly a bad thing as the farm system has already done it’s work. It is, however, encouraging that there is still plenty of talent remaining to help bolster the roster through graduation or potentially as trade pieces.