2015 Albuquerque Isotopes Top Prospect: Trevor Story

Oct. 9, 2014; Mesa, AZ, USA; Colorado Rockies infielder T. Story plays for the Salt River Rafters against the Mesa Solar Sox during an Arizona Fall League game at Cubs Park. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

As the Colorado Rockies’ affiliates end their seasons, we’re handing out player awards for 2015. Today, the Top Prospect Award for the Albuquerque Isotopes.

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After a successful season split between AA and AAA, Trevor Story has earned our 2015 Top Prospect Award for the Albuquerque Isotopes.

We aren’t the only ones to recognize Story, of course. MLB Pipeline named him their Colorado Rockies’ minor leaguer of the year; Purple Row recognizes him as their #7 organizational prospect after playing in the MLB Futures Game over the All Star Break earlier this year.

Story is likely the Rockies’ shortstop of the future, though considering he’s only played half a season with the AAA Albuquerque Isotopes, he’s likely at least a couple months away from the big leagues. Nevertheless, he’s a clear cut choice for this, our first minor league review award of the offseason (and believe me, there are a lot more coming!).

The numbers to back it up:

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What 2016 looks like:

Story is likely going to start 2016 in AAA, barring a great showing in Spring Training come February and March. Partially, this depends on whether Jose Reyes is still in Colorado by the spring time, as well as whether Cristhian Adames proves himself as a worthy middle infield option in the big leagues.

Past the two of them, though, Story may need to still work on a few things in AAA; he walked considerably less in Albuquerque last year than he did in the same amount of at-bats in New Britain. And, between both levels, he struck out 141 times in 130 games, which is a prodigious rate (though by today’s standards, it’s somewhat, well, standard).

Nevertheless, he’s clearly a shortstop of the future, and sooner or later, he’ll be in Denver attracting a lot of attention and, if all goes well, earning a lot of starts at shortstop for the Rockies.

Honorable mention: Jairo Diaz, Tom Murphy, Miguel Castro.

Flame thrower Diaz had a rough start to the season while struggling to throw strikes, but calmed down as the year went on and eventually worked his way to Denver, where he’s been throwing lights-out baseball for the Colorado Rockies out of the bullpen. Anybody who can touch triple digits with their fastball is a legitimate prospect.

Murphy got his big league chance late this month after Nick Hundley got injured. Murphy likely still needs some development time at AAA, and the jury is still out on whether he’s truly a catcher of the future, but he advanced through the Rockies’ system quickly and did well for the Albuquerque Isotopes in a partial 2015 season.

Castro, traded to Colorado from Toronto in the Troy Tulowitzki deal, could be analyzed in much the same way as Diaz. Castro is just 20 years old, too, so while he’s struggled a little bit in Denver in September, the Rockies are right to be high on him for the future.

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