Colorado Rockies Prospects: Mike Tauchman extends hit streak

Mike Tauchman extended his hitting streak to eleven games last night by hitting two doubles and a triple in Albuquerque’s 4-5 loss to the Omaha Storm Chasers. Since being sent back to Triple-A, Tauchman has a hit in 17 of 18 games, including 9 multi-hit games. For those 18 games, he’s hitting .413, with five home runs, and an OPS of 1.212. His season line now stands at .335/.391/.584, which is good for a 143 wRC+ in the PCL.

In a year where the Rockies have struggled with hitting, the Isotopes’ cup runneth over. Six regulars for Albuquerque have wRC+ marks over 120 (Tauchman, Jordan Patterson, Noel Cuevas, Ryan McMahon, Raimel Tapia, and Dustin Garneau). Even with Tapia’s presumed promotion to the majors (in replacement of the injured Ian Desmond), the Isotopes still have David Dahl and Tom Murphy on the roster, further deepening their hitting talent.

As the big-league club makes its playoff push, it will be interesting to see how the front office manages playing time at that level, and if any of the aforementioned players are given a significant shot to contribute. Even if just two of them (perhaps in the form of Tapia and Dahl, or maybe McMahon) are able to be major-league average players down the stretch, that will be a huge boon to the Rockies’ odds of making a deep postseason run.

Top 30 Purple Row Prospects (PuRPs)

Triple-A: Omaha Storm Chasers 5, Albuquerque Isotopes 4

Mike Tauchman: 3-for-5, R, 2 2B, 3B, RBI

Ryan McMahon (No. 7 PuRP): 1-for-3, 2B, RBI, 2 BB

Chad Bettis (Rehab Assignment): 5¹⁄₃ IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 0 K

Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats 7, Reading Fightin Phils 4

Brendan Rodgers (No. 1 PuRP): 2-for-4, R, RBI

Brian Mundell (PuRP HM): 2-for-4, R, HR, RBI

Dom Nunez (No. 14 PuRP): 1-for-3, 2 R, HR, RBI, BB

High-A: Lancaster JetHawks 6, San Jose Giants 5

Peter Lambert (No. 11 PuRP): 3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB 3 K

Sam Hilliard: 2-for-5, 2 R, 2B

Collin Ferguson: 2-for-3, 2B, RBI

Low-A: Rome Braves 7, Asheville Tourists 4

Willy Abreu: 3-for-4, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI

Tyler Nevin (No. 23 PuRP): 1-for-3, 2B, BB

Vince Fernandez: 0-for-4

Short-Season-A: Salem-Keizer Volcanoes 4, Boise Hawks 1

Sean Bouchard: 0-for-4

Daniel Jipping: 0-for-2, 2 BB

Ryan Luna: 7 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 6 K

Rookie: Ogden Raptors 6, Grand Junction Rockies 2

Ryan Vilade: 1-for-4

Chad Spanberger: 1-for-3, BB

Will Gaddis: 4 IP, 7 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

DSL: DSL Angels 3, DSL Rockies 1

Cristopher Navarro: 1-for-4

Yolki Pena: 1-for-2, 2 BB

Carlos Gonzalez: 4 IP, 3 H, 3 K

Saturday probables:

Triple-A: Sam Howard (No. 20 PuRP)

Double-A: Criag Schlitter

High-A: Trey Killian

Low-A: Antonio Santos

SS-A: TBD

Rookie: Justin Valdespina