Brendan Rodgers, who is the Colorado Rockies top prospect, was ranked ninth in ESPN’s Keith Law’s updated top 50 prospects. Rodgers is a shortstop and his numbers in single-A ball are encouraging thus far.
Rodgers is batting .289 with 13 homers and 50 RBIs for the Asheville Tourists. He was never projected to be a 30 home run type of player, so 13 home runs in only 70 games is impressive and somewhat surprising.
In Law’s description of the 19-year old, he explains how Rodgers flew under the radar even though he was drafted in the first round (3rd overall) in the 2015 MLB June Amateur Draft.
Something to look out for, according to Law, is Rodgers splits between home and road games. He is hitting .333 at home with nine home runs and 27 RBIs. His OPS (.998), slugging (.604), and OBP (.394) are all superior to his numbers on the road. Rodgers four homers and 23 RBIs aren’t far off, but his average (.243), OPS (.704), slugging (.386), and OBP (.318) are all worse on the road.
Law isn’t worried and suggests it’s “typical” for hitters in Asheville to have similar home/road splits as Rodgers does.
Law also mentioned that Rodgers is “hitting the ball everywhere” and believes that will be the type of player he is in the long run.
Rodgers might have picked the worst time to be the Rockies best prospect, though, because rookie phenom Trevor Story has decided to have a season for the ages. Story’s 21 homers before the All Star game tied Dave Kingman and Albert Pujols for the most homers all time for a rookie before the all star break. He was also snubbed from this year’s All Star game.
Other than Story, the Rockies have Nolan Arenado at third, DJ Lemahieu at second, and Mark Reynolds at first. We all know what Arenado and Lemahieu have don,e but Reynolds is having a great year too, hitting .283 with nine homers and 38 RBIs. More importantly, he’s striking out much less than in previous years.
The Rockies wouldn’t be afraid to insert Rodgers into the starting lineup — when he’s ready, of course — and Reynolds is only signed through this season. If the team isn’t able to retain Arenado in a couple of years, Rodgers could play an even bigger role and might have to follow in the footsteps of one of the best players in the MLB.
The Rockies plan should probably move in the direction of getting Rodgers ready to play in the outfield. He might not fit the prototype for a typical outfielder, but if he can progress quickly and is ready to produce in the majors, then why not? Unless you’re willing to move one of your infielders to first in exchange for Rodgers to take that position, then where else would you put him?
Carlos Gonzalez has been on the trade block for years, and it’s probably a matter of when, not if, het gets move. When they finally pull the trigger on CarGo — if a team wants to take a chance on his contract, which pays him $20 million next season — the Rockies could imaginably boost their pitching, while not losing much on the offensive side.
Rodgers is much younger than CarGo and although not as proven, he may be a better contact hitter (less powerful) in the future.
The Rockies are seven games behind the New York Mets and Miami Marlins for the second and final wild card spot in the NL, but the future’s very bright for this young team filled with offensive stars, if and only if they enhance their pitching.
Rodgers is ranked by Baseball America as the 40th best prospect, the 12th best prospect by MLB.com, and the 20th best prospect by BaseballProspectus.com.