The Colorado Rockies are in for a decently long rebuilding period, but they are doing the right things to set themselves up for the future.
With a completely overhauled front office following a difficult 2025 season and a farm system replenished by a promising draft class, they now have room to build around a young core that is both developing at the MLB level and in the minor leagues.
One of the biggest components to ensuring a franchise starts to become competitive sooner rather than later is finding players in free agency or on waivers who can bring value to the team without costing a fortune. This has been a struggle for the Rockies, as many of their low-cost efforts have not panned out in recent years, which has set them back.
The good news is, they recently brought in a player on a waiver claim right after the season ended who was named to the MLB Pipeline All-Rookie second team. With new management taking over, it is good to get a quality move out of the way early on, and it seems that Colorado may have found a promising player.
Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images
The player who ended up on MLB Pipeline’s All-Rookie second team was first baseman Troy Johnston, a 28-year-old rookie who took the Miami Marlins by storm this past season. Johnston was claimed off waivers by the Rockies following the campaign, as the Marlins moved on from him during their 40-man roster shuffle to bring back players from the 60-day injured list.
Johnston had a promising debut season. In 44 games, he slashed .277/.331/.420 with 13 RBI, 12 runs, four home runs, two stolen bases, 26 strikeouts and eight walks. Additionally, he only made one error in 246 innings of fielding work between first base, left field and right field.
A bat flip for the ages from Troy Johnston 🔥
(MLB x @SportClips) pic.twitter.com/37J1R59c1G
— MLB (@MLB) September 13, 2025
These smaller types of moves early in the winter are exactly what this franchise needs to be stacking to improve the overall depth of their organization. And finding a future first base option who could end up being the starter come April is a promising waiver claim. Now, they need to start stocking up on pitchers with similar value, as they have struggled to find depth at the spot that can perform well in Coors Field.
While the team is still a long way away, they are trending in the right direction with these moves.