Colorado Rockies: Ryan McMahon talks Triple-A talent, connection

MILWAUKEE – Ryan McMahon returned to the big leagues on Sunday from Triple-A Albuquerque. The Colorado Rockies infielder has been back and forth all year as have a few other notably talented youngsters.

Of the 45 guys who have played for the Isotopes this season, 27 have (at one time) been big leaguers or are currently with the Colorado Rockies. And that doesn’t even cover the highly regarded prospects in New Mexico that will soon see The Show.

Even on Friday, their lineup was the weirdest mix of former-Rockies and future-Rockies as nine of the 10 have either played in the bigs or will almost certainly at some point.

The biggest reason for the talent stockpiled in Albuquerque is the success the Rockies have had of drafting and developing while also acquiring high-caliber minor leaguers through trade. Another reason is that the Rockies are pretty good right now and have played good ball the past six weeks. When that happens, it becomes pretty hard to get some possibly deserving guys onto the roster because everyone above is doing their job.

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“We (minor leaguers) definitely were paying attention (to the big leaguers). The whole (Triple-A) team was,” McMahon told Rox Pile Monday in St. Louis in an exclusive chat. “We noticed how guys were doing and we were sending texts. A lot of us have been up and down with the team where it felt like a pretty close connection. It’s been cool even watching what they’ve been doing.”

Of course, Rockies legend Matt Holliday debuted in Triple-A on Friday as he works his way back to Denver. McMahon hasn’t played with Holliday but he’s still been battling with some pretty good players south of Denver on Interstate 25.

“The Topes are pretty good man,” McMahon said. “We always joke about that, if MLB needs an expansion team, the Topes would be the first ones up for it. It’s a good team and there are a lot of good dudes down there as well.”

Well, there are rumors of baseball expanding soon(albeit that’s not how it will work), but McMahon isn’t far off. The Topes could probably hold their own against a big league squad, at least in the same way an expansion team could.