Colorado Rockies farm system shows improvement in latest ESPN rankings

Since the middle of the last decade, the farm system for the Colorado Rockies has been a red flag among those nationally who rank the various Major League Baseball farm systems. This year, however, the Rockies seem to be slowly climbing out of the complete depths of the rankings.

While that may not be cause to raise a banner or start a parade down Blake Street, seeing the Colorado Rockies rise above other teams in the rankings and seeing the success that occurred at Low-A Fresno and High-A Spokane last season does give hope for what could be coming in future years at Coors Field.

Colorado Rockies climb from 27th to 23rd in latest ESPN Major League Baseball farm rankings

In an article for ESPN (subscription required), MLB insider Kiley McDaniel (who talked with us last year about the Colorado farm system in this podcast) ranked Colorado 23rd among all MLB farm systems. Last year, McDaniel had Colorado at 27th.

Part of McDaniel’s rankings include 15 players within the Rockies farm system that McDaniel considers players that any organization would want on their team or in their system. The names of those players are not listed in the article, but McDaniel does give a special shout-out in his article to Zac Veen and Drew Romo, a pair of prospects who flourished at Fresno last season and helped the Grizzlies reach the Low-A West championship series.

While Romo, Veen, Benny Montgomery, and several other high-ranking Rockies prospects are still likely years away from reaching the Major League level, three of the top five prospects according to MLB.com are expected to see time with the Rockies in 2022. That includes pitcher Ryan Rolison and infielder Elehuris Montero, which would mark the Major League debuts for both players. Ryan Vilade, who received six at-bats last season with the Rockies, is expected to make a bigger mark with the team as well in 2022.

Watching Veen, Romo, and Montgomery progress through the minor league system will be something for Rockies fans to watch in 2022, especially with those prospects not currently on Colorado’s 40-man roster and unaffected by the current MLB lockout.