With the major league roster being finalized on Thursday, the Rockies and their minor league affiliates slowly announced their rosters to open the 2018 season. After Friday, we now have all the rosters for the full season squads. The Albuquerque Isotopes (Triple-A), Hartford Yard Goats (Double-A), Lancaster JetHawks (High-A), and Asheville Tourists (Low-A) will all begin their season on April 5.
The Isotopes will feature RHP Yency Almonte (no. 8 PuRP), LHP Sam Howard (no. 10 PuRP), C Tom Murphy (no. 11 PuRP), 1B/OF Jordan Patterson (no. 14 PuRP), and RHP Jairo Diaz (no. 27 PuRP). Joining them will be fan favorites like OFs David Dahl, Raimel Tapia, and LHP Jerry Vasto. Their full roster can be found here.
The Hartford Yard Goats open the season at home and figure to have a stacked lineup this season. They will feature top PuRP SS Brendan Rodgers as well as RHP Peter Lambert (no. 4 PuRP), RHP Ryan Castellani (no. 6 PuRP), SS Garrett Hampson (no. 9 PuRP), 1B/DH Brian Mundell (no. 13 PuRP), OF Sam Hilliard (no. 17 PuRP), OF Yonathan Daza (no. 19 PuRP), and C Dom Nunez (no. 21 PuRP).
Forrest Wall (no. 16 PuRP) will be repeating High-A Lancaster, at least to start. Joining him on the JetHawks will be 3B Colton Welker (no. 5 PuRP), INF Tyler Nevin (no. 12 PuRP), 1B/OF Willie Abreu (no. 26 PuRP), and OF Vince Fernandez (no. 28 PuRP). That’s right: no PuRP pitchers will be toiling in Lancaster to start the season.
Another top prospect will repeat a level in 2018, as RHP Riley Pint (no. 3 PuRP, fourth overall pick in 2016) returns to Low-A Asheville. He will be joined by SS Ryan Vilade (no. 7 PuRP), LHP Breiling Eusebio (no. 18 PuRP), LHP Ben Bowden (no. 20 PuRP), RHP Will Gaddis (no. 23 PuRP), RHP Robert Tyler (no. 24 PuRP) 1B Chad Spanberger (no. 29 PuRP), RHP Tommy Doyle (no. 30 PuRP). Each of these PuRPs will be making their full season debuts.
As for the short season affiliates, the Boise Hawks and the Grand Junction Rockies, most of the players currently in the system that will be playing on those teams will remain in extended spring training until the mid-June start date. Since PuRP OF Daniel Montano (no. 15) and RHP Mike Nikorak (no 25) aren’t currently listed on a full season squad, it’s reasonable to expect they’ll spend the start of the season there before being assigned to a short-season squad.
We’ll have a full preview of the minor league rosters next week when the minor league slate opens.