Colorado Rockies: The top 25 players under 25 years old

21 Colton Welker

The 20-year-old third baseman, Welker has put up two massive seasons in the low minors already. He is set to start at High-A Lancaster after a silly slashline of .365/.409/.532 over his first 242 plate appearances of the season for the Tourists. An abdominal strain kept him out for some time and his final 37 plate appearances weren’t as special.

Granted, the SALLY league is very hitter-friendly but he had 25 XBH in total of 67 games at a level where he was 2.5 years younger than the average.

The fourth-round pick from Stoneman-Douglas HS in Parkland, Fla., needs a lot more time to develop before he reaches the Majors. This season, Welker may reach the high minors (Double-A) and that’s a big step.

Welker profiles as future starting third baseman in the bigs. You just can’t call him the future third baseman of the Rockies given who is in front of him. Right now, MLB.com says Welker is the 8th best third base prospect in baseball and writes,

"“With his advanced pitch-recognition skills and feel for the barrel, Welker rarely gets fooled and consistently makes hard contact. Once he adds some needed strength, the bat speed and leverage in his right-handed stroke could generate 20-homer power. He’s a below-average runner with decent instincts on the bases. Multiple Rockies officials have noted that Welker reminds them of a young Nolan Arenado because they have similar builds and put up similar numbers in their first two years of pro ball. While Arenado has made himself into an elite defender at third base, Welker still is learning the position after playing shortstop in high school. He has the hands and arm strength to be an asset defensively.”"

Welker is a hard-swinging good hitter with a developing ability on defense. If this was a prospect list, he’d certainly be in the top 10.