Colorado Rockies: Memories of Key Players at Double-A Tulsa

Barry Lewis of the Tulsa World has been covering the Tulsa Drillers for more than 20 years, including the years the Double-A franchise was a part of the Colorado Rockies family (2003-2014).

During that stretch, Lewis has seen a lot of players come through the Tulsa farm system, including several who have been and are currently key members of the Rockies roster. He’s also highly regarded as the most knowledgeable source on the Drillers and the players who have sat in their dugout or bullpen.

With that in mind, I decided to reach out to Lewis to ask him for his thoughts on Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story, and Jon Gray when they played in the Texas League for the Drillers, as well as talking to him about a couple of players who seemed like “sure bets” to make an impact for the Rockies … but never did.

Read on to see his thoughts as well as some surprising statistics about these Rockies players while they were a part of the Double-A landscape in their younger days.

Next: Nolan Arenado not an RBI machine? It's true...

Nolan Arenado

2012 for Tulsa: .285 average, 12 HR, 56 RBI in 134 games

Best game: April 5 at San Antonio: 4-for-5, 3 RBI

“Nolan’s season in Tulsa reminded me a lot of the one Matt Holliday had in Tulsa. Going into the 2012 season, everyone thought Nolan was going to tear up Texas League pitching and be gone in a month. The bar was set high, really as high as it ever was for anyone during the Colorado Rockies days with the Drillers.

“In the field, he was good but not great. You could see the Gold Glove potential on some plays but the consistency just wasn’t there. It was a mixed bag, but he was also very young when he came to Tulsa. He was just about to turn 21 when he got here.

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“Hitting-wise, you’d see flashes but he didn’t really tear it up at the plate. His numbers were OK but, when you look back now, you wonder how Nolan Arenado could only have 56 RBI in a full season at Double-A? And just 12 homers? The RBI count is still mysterious to me.

“He seemed to be really pushing but had a talk with (former Colorado general manager) Dan O’Dowd later in the season and that seemed to help him.”

Next: Trevor Story Hits Rockets, Yet Struggles

Jon Gray

2014 for Tulsa: 10-5, 3.91 ERA, 24 games (all starts)

Best game: August 2 vs. Northwest Arkansas, 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER

“He showed flashes on the mound and had a solid year. I was really surprised when he was with Tulsa during the entire 2014 season. He had only had nine professional outings before coming to Tulsa so I think it was good for him to be here for the entire season. When you’re the third overall selection, that sets the bar pretty high.

“I remember him being on the mound and expecting him to be more dominant. He had good stats but he also got hit around hard at times. In Tulsa, it didn’t look like his fastball had that much movement. It was a straight fastball that had power but not much movement.

Next: Two Prospects Who Should've Made a Bigger Impact

Tim Wheeler

2011 for Tulsa: .287 average, 33 HR, 86 RBI in 138 games

Best game: May 26 at Midland, 3-for-4, 2 HR, 4 RBI

“I thought he would’ve gotten to the Majors. I thought he would’ve found similar success or even be a fourth outfielder for the Colorado Rockies but he just never got there. When he suffered that broken hamate bone, he never regained the power. He wasn’t a player who hit for high enough average so when the power was gone, that was tough. It really was a case of ‘what might have been.’

Chin-hui Tsao

2003 for Tulsa: 11-4, 2.46 ERA, 18 games (all starts)

2004 for Tulsa: 1-1, 2.77 ERA, 2 games (all starts)

Best game: April 3, 2003, vs. Frisco, 6.0 IP, 5 H, 1 ER

“He came into the 2003 season hyped so much. He had a great season for the Drillers and then had a great debut for the Rockies. The sky seemed to be the limit for him. It’s amazing to think that today he has just five big league wins. It’s also amazing to think he’s still plugging away in Triple-A (with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization in Oklahoma City) and that he’s still potentially an option for the Dodgers to call up.

“There are two things that really stand out to me about him. First, in Tulsa, he was a really good athlete who could also handle the bat pretty well. Second, he not only pitched in the very first game for the Rockies organization in Tulsa but also for the Dodgers organization when they debuted in Tulsa 12 years later. What are the odds of that?”

Next: The Top 5 Catchers in Colorado History

Note: Chin-hui Tsao went 0-1 for Tulsa with a 7.20 ERA in four games in 2015. He was also a more highly regarded prospect than Matt Holliday in 2003 and made history by being the first Driller to be called up by Colorado. He also became the first Taiwanese pitcher in MLB, going 3-3 for the Rockies in nine games in 2003.