With no first round pick it was going to be tough for the 2017 draft class to live up to the standard that previous drafts that included Riley Pint, Brendan Rodgers, Kyle Freeland, Jon Gray and David Dahl had established as the norm. However, this draft class has already made a name for themselves through their prodigious power.
Ryan Vilade (2nd round) was the national high school home run derby champion and Chad Spanberger (6th round) was coming off a 20 home run season for the Arkansas Razorbacks so the expectation for power was there from the top of the Rockies draft class. Both of them have performed up to expectations as Vilade hit his fifth home run in 16 games last night and Spanberger hit his sixth in 20 games.
It hasn’t been just about power for the two of them either. Spanberger is hitting .325/.378/.650 for Grand Junction and Vilade is hitting .333/.493/.632 for the season with 17 walks against only 15 strikeouts. The bigger surprise is that Vilade is still playing his high school position of shortstop exclusively as opposed to shifting to third base in professional ball. In limited playing time, he’s look solid at the position defensively. Adding a shortstop who can hit like Vilade to the farm system without the benefit of a first round pick could be a massive coup by the Rockies scouting team.
While Vilade and Spanberger are leading the charge and trying to make everyone forget about the lack of a first round pick this year. The rest of the class is doing their best to make this a class known for it’s depth with their own prolific power production. Daniel Jipping (22nd round) is hitting .250/.357/.639 with eight home runs for Boise to lead the class Also in Boise, Sean Bouchard (9th round) is hitting .407/.448/.648 with 3 home runs and Bret Boswell (8th round) is hitting .270/.313/.483 with four home runs. In Grand Junction, Casey Golden (20th round) is hitting .242/.324/.576 with six home runs and Todd Czinege (29th round) is hitting .333/.420/.583 with four home runs.
★ ★ ★
Triple-A: Albuquerque 6, Tacoma 5
Ryan McMahon (no. 7 PuRP): 2-4, RBI
Jordan Patterson (no. 13 PuRP): 0-4
Sam Howard (no. 20 PuRP): 6 IP, 8 K, 2 BB, 8 H, 3 ER
David Dahl (rehab): 1-4, 3B, 4 RBI, R
Austin House: 1 IP, 1 K, 0 BB, 1 H, 0ER
★ ★ ★
Double-A: Hartford 9, Bowie 3
Brendan Rodgers (no. 1 PuRP): 0-4, BB
Yency Almonte (no. 12 PuRP): 5 2/3 IP, 7 K, 2 BB, 6 H, 3 ER
Brian Mundell (HM PuRP): 1-3, BB, 2 R
★ ★ ★
High-A: Lancaster 11, Visalia 4
Peter Lambert (no. 11 PuRP): 6 IP, 4 K, 0 BB, 6 H, 1 ER
Garrett Hampson (no. 22 PuRP): 1-4, BB, R, SB
Mylz Jones: 4-5, 2B, RBI, 2 R, SB
Wes Rodgers: 3-5, 2B, RBI, 2 R, SB
★ ★ ★
Low-A: Asheville 12, Augusta 3
Tyler Nevin (no. 23 PuRP): 2-5, 2 RBI
Jose Gomez (no. 30 PuRP): 2-4, BB, RBI, R
Vince Fernandez: 0-3, BB
Manuel Melendez:; 2-6, 3B, RBI, 2 R
Antonio Santos: 6 IP, 4 K, 0 BB, 7 H, 2 ER
★ ★ ★
Short Season-A: Boise 10, Tri-City 4
Ryan Metzler: 1-3, BB, HR, 2 RBI, R
Hidekel Gonzalez: 2-4, R
★ ★ ★
Rookie: Grand Junction 6, Great Falls 2
Pedro Gonzalez (no. 16 PuRP): 1-5
Ryan Vilade: 3-4, BB, HR, RBI, 2 R, SB
Chad Spanberger: 1-4, BB, HR, 2 RBI, R
Todd Czinege: 3-5, R
★ ★ ★
Dominican Summer League: DSL Rockies 17, DSL Twins 10
Daniel Montano (no. 21 PuRP): 0-2, 4 BB, RBI, R
Eddy Diaz: 2-5, 2 BB, 3B, RBI, 2 R, SB
Yolki Pena: 1-2, 2 BB, 2 RBI, 3 R
Diego Blanco: 2 IP, 3 K, 0 BB, H, 0 ER