Colorado Rockies: Ryan Rolison, two others protected from Rule Five Draft

The Colorado Rockies announced on Friday that they have protected three players from the Rule V Draft before Friday’s 4 PM M.T. deadline. They have protected left-handed pitcher Ryan Rolison (MLB.com’s #95 prospect), shortstop Ezequiel Tovar (Rockies #11 prospect), and right-handed pitcher Noah Davis (Rockies #18 prospect).

Now, the Colorado Rockies have 39 players on their 40-man roster.

The Colorado Rockies did not protect all of the players that they could have

While the Colorado Rockies did protect Rolison, Tovar, and Davis, the Rockies could have protected up to three other players among their top 30 prospects.

The players that they did not protect are outfielder Jameson Hannah (Rockies #21 prospect), catcher Willie MacIver (#25), and infielder Eddy Diaz (#30).

Hannah, 24, was acquired last offseason by the Rockies in the Jeff Hoffman deal along with reliever Robert Stephenson and he impressed the Rockies during spring training. The Rockies assigned him to Double-A Hartford since Hannah had never played above Advanced-A ball but Hannah’s bat didn’t translate in Hartford as he hit .255/.324/.351 after a hot stretch to start the season.

MacIver, 25, could be the most surprising of the group not to be protected. MacIver had a great start to the 2021 season as he was named to the 2021 All-Star Futures Game and was given a promotion from High-A Spokane to Double-A Hartford. But MacIver really struggled in Hartford, hitting just .167 with an OPS of .507. He was still elevated to Triple-A to play a handful of games for Albuquerque.

The Rockies had him play in the Arizona Fall League and he had mixed results as he hit .242 and only had a slugging percentage of .279 but he had an OBP of .359.

Diaz, 21, has been in the Rockies system since he was 17 but the move not to protect him is not unforeseen. He spent his first three seasons in rookie-ball with his first season in the United States coming in 2019. He played well at Low-A Fresno in 2021 so the Rockies promoted him to High-A Spokane and he struggled in 21 games. He hit .192 with an OPS of .515.

Since they weren’t protected, the three players could be subject to the Major League or Minor League portions of the Rule V Draft but if they are not drafted, the players still could be in the Colorado Rockies system in 2022.