Colorado Rockies prospect talk: 3 things we saw in Spokane

Spokane, Wash. — While the vast majority of Colorado Rockies fans focused their attention on St. Louis on Friday night and Colorado’s reunion with Nolan Arenado, we headed to the Inland Northwest to catch a Spokane Indians game.

The new High-A affiliate of the Rockies, Spokane has plenty of prospects to keep an eye on this season and beyond. That list includes five of the top 10 prospects for the Rockies.

Of course, seeing the prospects in person versus just seeing them ranked on a computer screen provides a different perspective. With that in mind, here are three thoughts on what we saw in Spokane’s 8-4 loss to the Eugene Emeralds, the High-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.

Eddy Diaz can run

Ranked 21st among Rockies prospects, Diaz has totaled 104 stolen bases in three minor league campaigns, including 20 at Grand Junction in 2019. This season with the Indians, Diaz already has four stolen bases, including two on Friday night that helped produce Spokane’s first run of the night.

Diaz opened the game with a single, then stole second and third before forcing Eugene starting pitcher Nick Morreale into a balk to send him home.

Speed can certainly be a weapon, as Diaz keeps demonstrating.

Ryan Feltner rebounds

It was anything but a solid start for Feltner, who was a fourth-round pick in 2018. Back-to-back singles opened the game, and then the right-hander walked the next two batters to give Eugene a quick 1-0 lead.

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From there, however, Feltner found his rhythm. He struck out the next two batters and got a groundout on a nice play from Michael Toglia (more about that in a moment) to limit the first-inning damage to just one run.

Feltner would strike out six in the first three innings on his way to a four-inning stint where he threw 78 pitches (51 for strikes) and scattered five hits and allowing just the first-inning run.

Was it an outstanding outing? No, but the night could have quickly unraveled for Spokane and Feltner had he not been able to rediscover his control and establish himself on the mound.

Michael Toglia impresses

As mentioned above, Toglia made a nice diving stop to help Feltner out of the first. It was part of a solid defensive night at first base for the 2019 first-round pick, who also made a good scoop of a Diaz throw in the sixth to ensure the out.

At the plate, Toglia drew walks in the second and fourth innings, then launched a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth for his third home run of the young season, raising his batting average to .250 and OPS to a gaudy 1.471.

Is it any wonder why defenses are respecting his potential at the plate?