Colorado Rockies: The top 25 players under 25 years old

5 Ryan McMahon

The left-handed hitting 23-year-old made the big league roster out of spring training this season. In an extremely small sample size, he has yet to hit in the majors. However, one can make the case that he was the best hitter in minor league baseball last season.

McMahon slashed .326/.390/.536 with 24 extra base hits, maintaining his walk rate while cutting the strikeouts down to 19%, in total a 151 wRC+ while repeating Hartford in the first half of the season. McMahon was moved to Triple-A In July where it just got better.

Against what was on average 4.4 years older pitching, McMahon made a joke of the Pacific Coast League with a slash of .374/.411/.612 triple with 39 extra base hits, including 14 homers. That was a 161 wRC+. He also managed a hit streak in there and a couple of games where he combined to go 14-for-16 at one point.

Defensively, McMahon learned second base in 2017, playing 36 games there. He spent more time at first than anywhere else but also spent time at his natural position of third. He cut his errors in half from the year prior and he earned a September call-up.

This all came after a 2016 season that saw him go from one of the top prospects in all of the game to a nobody. He’s now firmly back in the category of highly regarded. In talking to McMahon, one garners the impression that he is a big leaguer and he will be quite successful in doing so.

The uber athletic McMahon still has plenty of time to figure it out, and will. He’s going to be a very good player for the Rockies.