Colorado Rockies reveal plan for David Dahl

DENVER – David Dahl has been down since the end of May with a broken foot but the Colorado Rockies outfielder is on his way back to the big leagues.

This week, his hitting picked up and he rejoined the Rockies at Coors Field to hit in the batting cages and he, soon thereafter, followed up with a full field workout.

The detailed plan has now been unveiled for the 24-year-old. He will join the Albuquerque Isotopes tomorrow to continue his physical rehab and then, he is tentatively scheduled to begin playing rehab games on Friday (six days from now.) However, it is possible he could return earlier if he feels fine.

In 32 games at the major league level, he’s slashing .275/.309/.484 with four HR and 13 RBI. Dahl, the once top Rockies prospect, missed the entire of the 2017 season with back and rib injuries after a sparkling rookie campaign in 2016. He’s missed plenty of time with injuries in the minors as well.

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Aside from what the plan is, Bud Black actually had some pretty interesting things to say about where Dahl currently fits in with Colorado.

“David is in a good spot. The reports back are that he’s moving great,” Black said. “It’ll be good to get him back in the minor leagues, get him some at bats and get him down there to keep getting repetitions that he needs…he needs to play and produce and put up some minor league numbers. Like all our minor league players, we’ll keep an eye on him.”

The Rockies skipper made a pretty key distinction. Despite it being rehab, he said that Dahl would need to produce to earn a call up and also lumped him in as a minor league player.

So, at least for the near future, Dahl is going to be in the minor leagues even though he is healthy.

Given Carlos Gonzalez‘s good play, Gerardo Parra‘s consistency, and Charlie Blackmon being the reigning batting champ, there isn’t a clear spot for Dahl anyway.

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Currently, the Rockies are even set on a fourth outfielder in Noel Cuevas and are even carrying Raimel Tapia. Dahl might be better, or at the least more talented, than all of those guys, but he’s going to need to prove it…again.