This situation should sound familiar.
The Colorado Rockies part ways with their established second baseman, knowing that a highly-touted and heavily-valued second-base prospect is waiting in the wings. However, the organization gets cold feet about handing the young man the starting job right out of the gate. Despite his prospect pedigree, they decide he just isn’t ready.
The Rockies then sign one—or maybe more—veteran stopgaps to take the reins until the prospect is ready and eventually called up.
This is what the Rockies did with former top second-base prospect Brendan Rodgers when DJ LeMahieu was allowed to walk away from the organization after the 2019 season.
This is what the Rockies did with current top second-base prospect Adael Amador when they chose to non-tender Rodgers after six years following the 2024 season.
Amador got his first brief cup of coffee when Rodgers went down with a hamstring strain early last season. He played in ten consecutive games, going 6-for-35 at the plate with a double and a stolen base. He also flashed the leather as a defensive second baseman that was part of his prospect profile.
When Rodgers returned, Amador was sent back to the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats. Although he wasn’t quite ready for the show, there was a lot to like in his brief debut, and it gave Rockies fans some hope for the future.
Amador ended up struggling in his 2024 campaign with the Yard Goats, both with injuries and with his performance. The prospect (no. 3 PuRP) hit just .230/.343/.376 and struck out significantly more than he drew walks for the first time in his professional career. However, also had 14 home runs, 12 doubles, a triple, and 52 RBIs while stealing 35 bases.
The Rockies, however, didn’t view him as ready yet. They assigned him to the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes to start the 2025 season, despite a strong spring training in which he went 9-for-30 and walked nine times to just five strikeouts.
Instead, the team brought in veterans Kyle Farmer and Thairo Estrada to keep the keystone warm. Confusingly, they also brought in Owen Miller and Tyler Freeman via trade—the latter of which saw 2023 Rookie of the Year contender Nolan Jones depart for the Cleveland Guardians—as additional second base and utility options.
It felt like the organization had little faith in their top second-base prospect
Then the depth started falling apart.
Thairo Estrada sustained a wrist fracture at the end of spring training right after OF/INF Greg Jones was waived and claimed by the Chicago White Sox. In addition, Tyler Freeman suffered an oblique strain early in April.
Suddenly Amador—who was hitting .275/.408/.450 with two home runs and a 2:1 walks-to -strikeouts ratio in Albuquerque—was needed. The Rockies recalled him on April 13th.
It’s at this point we see the Rockies begin to repeat the behavior of their past — one we’ve discussed at length.
Despite being on the Rockies active roster for almost a month, Amador has failed to get regular playing time.
He has appeared in only 15 games since April 13th, and started in just 12 of those games. Meanwhile, the team has regularly turned to Kyle Farmer—and even Owen Miller—at second base.
The Rockies could have turned to Amador as their everyday shortstop when Ezequiel Tovar and Aaron Schunk both went down with injuries. Shortstop was Amador’s primary position when he was signed out of the Dominican Republic as part of the Rockies’ 2019 international class. His conversion to second base is a fairly recent development with the arrival—and long-term signing—of Ezequiel Tovar.
Instead, the Rockies traded for familiar face Alan Trejo from the Texas Rangers’ Triple-A affiliate Round Rock Express to be the starting shortstop. Kyle Famer also occasionally plays the position.
Like other prospects before him, Amador has little left to prove in the minor leagues. He appears to have re-found his plate discipline in Triple-A and even shown off some power during his short stint with the Isotopes this season—power he demonstrated again in the majors when he hit his first career home run on April 26th.
Now, his development must come at the big-league level. He needs to see and experience big-league pitching over consistent starts so that his excellent vision and plate approach can be fine tuned against better competition. He also should be playing in the middle infield daily to demonstrate that his glove work may one day be as good as gold.
Instead, Amador languishes on the bench while gritty veterans fill the gap. He appears once every few days, struggles, and then is relegated back to the pine. Without consistent playing time, it’s no wonder he’s hitting just .179/.238/.333 in 43 plate appearances.
Meanwhile, Rockies fans are being treated to one of the worst seasons in the history of the league and wondering just what the plan is.
What’s the point of a rebuild if the players aren’t being prepared for the future?
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On the Farm
Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes vs Salt Lake Bees — Postponed
Double-A: Chesapeake Baysox 5, Hartford Yard Goats 1
The Yard Goat’s eight-game home winning streak came to an end with back-to-back losses at the hands of the newly re-christened Chesapeake Baysox (Baltimore Orioles. In the series finale, the Yard Goats managed just one run on three hits with doubles from Benny Montgomery and Jose Cordova. Lefty Evan Shawver was the only Hartford pitcher to not give up either a hit or a run, striking out two batters over 2 1⁄3 innings of work.
High-A: Spokane Indians 1, Tri-City Dust Devils 0
Who doesn’t love a pitching duel? The Indians and Dust Devils (Los Angeles Angels) both pitched seven shutout innings before the first run crossed the plate. That run just so happened to belong to Spokane. Albert Pacheco worked a strong six innings and gave up just three hits while striking out five batters. Hunter Omlid earned his third win of the season out of the bullpen, while Alan Perdomo earned a hold and Welinton Herrera notched his sixth save of the year so far. The Indians’ lone run was driven in off the bat of Jared Thomas.
Low-A: Visalia Rawhide 5, Fresno Grizzlies 0
The Grizzlies were blanked by the Visalia Rawhide in the series finale to cement a series loss. Fresno went just 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and were held scoreless on five hits. Kelvin Hidalgo went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double as one of the Grizzlies’ best offensive players of the game. Brody Brecht made a 3 2⁄3 inning start and struck out six batters while giving up two runs (one earned) on four hits, but also walked four batters as he continues to try and dial in his command during his first professional season.
★ ★ ★
Rockies ready for chance to ‘exhale’ after 25 games in 27 days | MLB.com
Today is the Rockies’ first day off in 11 games following a brutal stretch where they played 25 games in 27 days. During that time they played two different doubleheaders and went 4-21. During that stretch, Hunter Goodman and Jordan Beck have emerged as solid offensive contributors. However, the rest of the team is still struggling. They’ll take a breather now before starting a series against the Detroit Tigers tomorrow.
“The guys will regroup and come out ready to play for sure against the Tigers,” Black said. “These guys come to play. It’s not happening with the results we want but these 26 guys are playing as hard as they can to get a win.”
The start of the 2025 season is one of the worst in baseball history, one of the worst in franchise history, and one of the hardest to endure for fans of the beleaguered Colorado Rockies. Patrick Saunders described the clubhouse vibe as “funereal” and the players—like Kyle Freeland—are taking things “personally.”
“Guys are angry. Guys are (ticked off),” said manager Bud Black. “All of the adjectives you want to throw out there. These guys are competitors, regardless of the group we have. These guys are professional baseball players who want to do well. It just hasn’t happened, as a group. We just don’t have enough guys playing well.”
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