Rockies Opening Day Roster Continues To Take Shape

Sep 27, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Tim Federowicz (26) throws out Colorado Rockies shortstop Cristhian Adames (10) at first base in the sixth inning of the game at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Not too many surprises here, but the Colorado Rockies have optioned several players to minor league camp this morning, according to Thomas Harding of MLB.com.

Like I said, not too shocking for any of those players, but Cristhian Adames, Jairo Diaz and Kyle Parker are noteworthy, at least.

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Adames enjoyed a nice spring, slashing .333/.350/.385 in 43 PAs, and only struck out four times. He’ll presumably begin the year in AAA Albuquerque after hitting .338/.392/.441 in 163 PAs in AAA last summer.

He probably deserves more of a look on the big league club, but with Troy Tulowitzki, D.J. LeMahieu, Daniel Descalso, and either Charlie Culberson or Rafael Ynoa on the 25-man roster already, spots are tight. We’ll keep you updated on Adames’ progress in the minors this summer.

Diaz, who is about to turn 24 years old, is an intriguing power arm acquired from the Angels this winter for Josh Rutledge. Save for his very short big league cameo in Anaheim last summer, he’s never pitched above AA and would do well to start the season in Albuquerque, but he throws hard enough to keep in the back of your mind if the bullpen blows up in a few months.

Parker, the former Clemson quarterback, just can’t quite seem to find a spot with the Rockies so far. He hit .333/.422/.462 in 45 plate appearances this spring and would certainly be on the 25-man roster if not for the glut of good outfielders ahead of him on the depth chart.

Despite being on the active roster for 38 days last year, he only received 26 plate appearances and hit .192/.192/.231. Should an injury happen like what almost befell Carlos Gonzalez last night, Parker would stand to be in Denver quite quickly.

The other three, Ken Roberts, Dustin Garneau, and Ryan Casteel, are slightly further away from the big leagues in their development timeline.

We’ll keep you updated as the roster continues to take shape before Opening Day in Milwaukee.