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3 Top prospects the Rockies should already call up as reinforcements

Embrace the youth

By Tanner Vogt |
Colorado Rockies v Toronto Blue Jays
Colorado Rockies v Toronto Blue Jays / Vaughn Ridley/GettyImages
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The focus on this 2024 Rockies team is a lot different than in previous years. Prior to embracing the rebuild and allowing some of the youth to get a majority of the playing time while sprinkling in some veteran depth (Jake Cave), the Rockies were giving a lot of at bats to veterans looking for a career resurgence.

Guys like Jurickson Profar, CJ Cron, Randal Grichuk and Mike Moustakas were guys the Rockies took a shot on, in hopes of taking advantage of the thin Colorado air, hoping for one final pay day. Finally, the Rockies have decided not to block their young talent, allowing them ample time to grow and develop while doing so against major league talent. They are still lacking some excitement, however. Players like Brenton Doyle, Nolan Jones and Ezequiel Tovar, but the Rockies could really use another exciting player that could team up with the exciting trio.

Greg Jones could be the table setter to follow in Chuck's footsteps

The Rockies have a few guys that could become true, middle of the order impact bats. There is a lot of promise for guys like Elehuris Montero, Michael Toglia, and Brendan Rodgers still possess an immense amount of potential and could become perennial run producers.

For the better part of a decade, the Rockies have had one of the best leadoff hitters in the game, Charlie Blackmon. In what could very well be his farewell tour, Chuck will look to lead this team to a competitive season and hopefully mentor the next wave of Rockies baseball. What better way to do that, then to mentor a potential leadoff hitter with a crazy number of tools?

Greg Jones was acquired in what was a pretty questionable trade. The 26-year-old outfielder and shortstop seemed redundant, especially considering the Rockies had to give up a promising pitching prospect. When you look at Jones tools, however, there is a lot to be excited about.

The former first round pick in 2019 possesses elite speed, with an 80-grade from MLB Pipeline. He has also gotten above average defensive ratings, but the hit tool is what is going to make or break the switch-hitters career. Jones is never going to be a .300 hitter, but he has all of the tools to be a guy that hits .250 but gets on base at around a .320 clip. If he does that, there's a very good chance that he's a 50+ stolen base guy, that's how good that tool is. The strikeouts are an issue, as he has posted a strikeout rate over 35% the last two years, but that looks to have changed this year. In just 10 games, it's down to about 30% (still high, but manageable), but he's also posted an impressive 15% walk rate. Jones could be a fixture in this lineup for a while and would add a lot of excitement ahead of guys like Nolan Jones, Ezequiel Tovar and Ryan McMahon.

When looking at a rebuilding team, one of the least important pieces of that is the bullpen. The Rockies haven't allocated any resources to building a solid, competitive bullpen and its understandable; a bullpen is more of a luxury for a young team. However, the goal of the game is to win (though some teams seem to not agree with that) and the growth of your players and teams often results in more wins, something that this team could use.

These 2 high profile bullpen arms could really help this struggling bullpen

There was a very solid chance out of spring training that Jaden Hill would make the Opening Day roster. The righty absolutely dominated the competition, especially considering the former second round pick just recently moved to the bullpen.

The righty was sitting in the high 90's and was able to deploy a devasting changeup and slider combination with the elite fastball. For a bullpen that has struggled to be efficient, Hill could give this team something that they really lack. Hill has never had an issue with walks (something that has plagued this bullpen early on), with a 4.5 per nine rate, while striking out more than 12 batters per nine in his three minor league seasons. There are certain guys in the Rockies bullpen that the team wouldn't regret letting go of and it would do a lot of good to see someone like Hill compete with some of the veterans in the Rockies bullpen. When the time comes for the Rockies to contend, Hill could become the bonified, high-leverage arm that this team would need.

Riley Pint was supposed to be the one to break the Rockies mold of pitchers who couldn't make it in Colorado. Unfortunately, the former fourth overall pick could never make it to the major league level after struggles with control. The righty has stuck with it and a move to the bullpen could see his stuff play up a ton!

The command struggles continue to plague Pint. In just seven innings in 2024 at Triple-A Albuquerque, Pint has walked eight batters and hit two more. The impressive number here is the 12 strikeouts he has in such a limited time. Pint might not be the best arm for a bullpen that already struggles with walks, but after eight years in the minors, it doesn't seem like the walks are going to go down much.

At this point, the Rockies just need to let the flamethrower compete against major league pitching and hope that his stuff is just so good, it can overcome the walk issues at the major league level. You can't tell me that his stuff isn't louder than a number of the guys in the bullpen and many of them have a walk rate over five or six.

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