Colorado Rockies: What’s the Spokane Indians’ 2022 Opening Day roster?

The Spokane Indians (the High-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies) were a very good team in 2021, as they went 67-49 in 2022. As a result, some of their players have graduated to Double-A Hartford or even Triple-A Albuquerque for Opening Day 2022.

However, they will have some of the Rockies’ best prospects to start the 2022 season since the Low-A Fresno Grizzlies had some players graduate to the Indians.

Colorado Rockies top prospects Zac Veen and Drew Romo will be on the Spokane Indians for Opening Day 2022

The Spokane Indians will have an Opening Day roster that, perhaps, could be better than they were in 2021. Their roster will have 30 players on it, including 16 pitchers and 14 position players.

Here is the breakdown. Players that are among MLB.com’s Top 30 prospects are noted in bold.

• Right-handed pitchers (12): Jared Biddy, Anderson Bido, Fineas Del Bonta-Smith, Will Etheridge, Robinson Hernández, Boby Johnson, Shelby Lackey, Tony Locey, Anderson Pilar, Andrew Quezada, Mike Ruff, Luke Taggart
• Left-handed pitchers (4): Evan Justice, Austin Kitchen, Tanner Propst, Joe Rock
• Catchers (4): AJ Lewis, Ronaiker Palmer, Drew Romo, Colin Simpson
• Infielders (5): Julio Carreras, Eddy Díaz, Grant Lavigne, Christopher Navarro, Benjamin Sems
• Outfielders (5): Robby Martin, Daniel Montano, Bladimir Restituyo, Yorvis Torrealba, Zac Veen

Veen and Romo are the Rockies’ top two prospects and both of them are ranked within the top 100 prospects by both ESPN and The Athletic. Veen is among the top 40 among all majors outlets, including ESPN (#20), Baseball America (#22), The Athletic (#23), Baseball Prospectus (#25), and MLB Pipeline (#36).

The Indians will be led by manager Scott Little, who managed the team last year, which was the first season in which Spokane and the Rockies were affiliated with each other. Prior to the pandemic (and the canceled 2020 season in the minors), Little was the Rockies manager at Advanced-A Lancaster in 2019. Prior to that, he was the manager for the Rockies for two seasons at Short-Season A Boise.

Spokane will open their season against the Vancouver Canadians (the High-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays) on Friday and Will Etheridge will make the start for them.