Colorado Rockies: A season review of the top 16 prospects

A look at the seasons put together by Colorado Rockies prospects Elehuris Montero and Michael Toglia, as well as as nod to Jaden Hill

6. Elehuris Montero, 3B/1B, AA/AAA: .278/.360/.529, 132 wRC+, 10.6 BB%, 22.0 K%, 28 HR

A key piece of the return for Nolan Arenado, Elehuris Montero’s name didn’t inspire confidence with Rockies fans. Despite being a top 100 prospect according to Baseball America coming into 2019, the hulking infielder battled a hand injury that plummeted his prospect stock.

Montero’s 2021 turned out to be a resurgence for the ages. He finished eighth in the Northeastern League (AA) in wRC+ and sixth in OPS, mashing home runs, drawing walks, and racking up hits.

Montero’s career walk rate coming into 2021 was 8.5%. Seeing a significant improvement (to 10.6%) against upper-minors pitching offers a boat-load of encouragement that Montero’s hit tool will play in the bigs. Montero also blew his previous career-high in home runs out of the water.

Montero hasn’t gotten rave reviews for his defense at the hot corner and he spent close to half the time at first base this year. Either way, the Rockies are clogged at the corner infield following the C.J. Cron extension and with Ryan McMahon emerging as one of the best defensive third basemen in baseball.

The Dominican slugger was close to making his big-league debut this year and is already on the 40-man roster. His bat should be viewed as a key piece to the Rockies retool so hopefully we see Montero at 20th and Blake in 2022.

7. Jaden Hill, RHP

The Rockies second-round pick underwent Tommy John surgery in April so he won’t see the mound until next summer. He has a high-octane arm and can spin a dynamic slider to go along with his tumbling changeup.

We’ll likely catch a glimpse of Hill in the Arizona Complex League around July.

8. Michael Toglia, 1B, A+/AA: .228/.333/.445, 108 wRC+, 13.0 BB%, 28.5 K%, 22 HR, 10 SB

Big Mike Toglia didn’t have the season we hoped for, but he still showed positive signs en route to being promoted to AA. The switch-hitting first baseman continued defining his baseball identity as a slick-fielding, patient-hitting masher.

The former first-round pick out of UCLA dealt with some overall swing and miss issues which led to a 28.5 K% and average on-base percentage despite an exceptionally high walk rate. Toglia’s power also wasn’t as consistent, with 10 of his 22 home runs coming in the first 38 games of the season.

Toglia managed to post respectable numbers after a midseason AA promotion, though they didn’t signify a AAA assignment as likely. Still, Toglia has the upside to be a Matt Olson-like player at first base and should continue garnering excitement.