Colorado Rockies: Brendan Rodgers, 4 others sent back to Albuquerque

The Colorado Rockies made more roster cuts today as they sent five players down to Triple-A Albuquerque, including their number one prospect, Brendan Rodgers.

The Colorado Rockies (h/t Nick Groke of The Athletic) have optioned five players back to Triple-A Albuquerque.

They include their #1 prospect Brendan Rodgers, pitchers Ben Bowden and Matt Pierpont, catcher Dom Nunez, and other infielders Bret Boswell and Brian Mundell. Rodgers is the biggest name of the five players but none of the four players projected to make the Rockies roster.

More from Rox Pile

• A Colorado Rockies Thanksgiving
• Colorado Rockies: What if Todd Helton had played football instead?
• Colorado Rockies: Charlie Blackmon out for the season
• Colorado Rockies: Injuries shift look of roster ahead of Dodgers series
• Colorado Rockies: Has Sean Bouchard earned a second look in 2023?

Per Groke in a different tweet, Rockies manager Bud Black said earlier today that Rodgers will play in Triple-A Albuquerque while working on his defense. Rodgers defense was much improved last season, as we discussed with Rodgers in this exclusive conversation at the beginning of spring training last month.

In spring training, Rodgers struggled a bit at the plate as he went 8-for-36 (.222 AVG) with 3 RBI, a .275 on-base percentage, and a .525 slugging percentage.

It’s not surprising to see the Rockies send Rodgers to Albuquerque as if they hold him down there for just a few weeks, they will gain an extra year of control on him so, barring any injury, you should see him some time later this season with the Rockies.

Of the other quartet of players, Bowden (the Rockies #15 prospect, per MLB.com) saw the most action in Spring Training as he appeared in 6 games (4 2/3 innings) with a record of 1-0 and a a 3.86 ERA. He struck out six and had a WHIP of 0.86.

One roster move will likely be to the disabled list for Antonio Senzatela as his foot injury likely means that Chad Bettis will win the 5th starter battle, as Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post noted yesterday.

As a result of the cuts, there are 41 players left in major league camp in Spring Training.

The injury of Senzatela and optioning of Rodgers clears the waters a bit on what the Rockies roster will likely be but obviously there will be more cuts in the coming days since there are less than two weeks left of camp.