Colorado Rockies: Ranking the 40-Man Roster: 36-31

Number 36 (Tie)

Yency Almonte: Right Handed Pitcher Points: 216 Highest Rank: 34 Lowest Rank: 40

To be clear: Almonte and Senzatela finished with the same exact point total from our six-man panel. So even though we’re discussing Senzatela 36th and Almonte 35th, as a group, we view the two equally.

Colorado Rockies

That makes sense, because the two have a lot in common. Both are 22, both started their careers as teenagers, and both reached the highest level of their career when they briefly scratched the surface of Double-A in 2016.

Almonte, however, has the advantage of coming off a healthy, full and successful season. Colorado acquired him from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for relief pitcher Tommy Kahnle during last offseason, and after a moderately strong showing in high A-Ball, Almonte was summoned to Double-A.

While the sample size was admittedly tiny, Almonte pitched well for Hartford. In five starts, he pitched 30 innings and went 3-1 while logging an even 3.00 ERA. Almonte will likely begin 2017 back in Hartford, but if he continues to post the kind of numbers he did last year, he could advance to Triple-A quickly.

But again, much like Senzatela, it’s hard to picture a scenario in which Almonte plays a significant role for the Rockies in 2017. Then again, no one knows for sure how injuries and other situations could impact Almonte’s arrival time. This time last year, no one was talking about Tyler Anderson as a fixture in the rotation.

Almonte is probably still at least another season away from being ready to contribute at the big league level, but the fact that Colorado felt compelled to add him to the 40-man roster shows that they believe he isn’t all that far off from the major leagues.

If Almonte has another strong year in 2017, it’s possible we could see him in Denver as soon as this season. However, we probably won’t know how good Almonte can be for at least another few years.