It’s a new era in Colorado, as the Rockies’ front office received a major overhaul after the team finished with the worst record in 2025. That new group will have major assets to work with, including two big power-hitting first-round picks, plus some intriguing arms in the system.
Fresno Grizzlies
Back in the 2023 international signing pool, the Rockies invested seven figures in Robert Calaz. Calaz had two electric seasons in short-season ball (2023-24), highlighted by a 1.113 OPS campaign in the ACL back in 2024. Thus, the bar was set high for the 20-year-old heading into 2025.
Surprisingly, Calaz, who hit for plenty of power in 2024 and 2025, had more of a muted season with the Grizzlies. He slashed .259/.338/.399 with 10 home runs and 29 extra-base hits over 99 games. Calaz missed much of April on the injured list.
Still, Calaz led the team in home runs in what is generally considered a hitter-friendly league. High swing-and-miss, as indicated by a 33.4% Whiff% that ranked among the 30 highest rates in the circuit (min. 250 swings).
Derek Bernard, also 20 years of age, had a strong overall year. Bernard slashed .302/.385/.448 with six home runs, 13 stolen bases, and 24 extra-base hits over 72 games. Kelvin Hidalgo stole a team-high 43 bases over 116 games. Both, though, had Whiff% above 30%.
The Grizzlies also had one of the best contact hitters, infielder Roynier Hernandez (14.5% Whiff%). Hernandez posted a .358 on-base percentage last season.
Fresno was also home to several of the Rockies’ 2025 MLB Draft picks. Most notably, Ethan Holliday, who made his professional debut with the Grizzlies.
Holliday flashed power as he hit two home runs and six extra-base hits over 18 games. On the other hand, the swing-and-miss was high for Holliday in his abbreviated pro debut. The bloodline player had a Whiff% of 42.8% in the California League, where he struck out 33 times.
Tanner Thach, an eighth-round pick out of UNC Wilmington, headed into 2025 with Day 1 potential, especially after a strong 2024 summer in the Cape. Thach, a prodigious power hitter in college, hit two home runs and four extra-base hits across 18 games, along with a 27.5% Whiff%.
Moving on to the pitching staff, two pitchers who performed very well in the California League were Fisher Jameson and Brody Brecht, two of Colorado’s 2024 MLB Draft picks.
Jameson, a 10th-rounder from the Florida Gators, struck out 93 over 99.1 IP and posted a 52.4% GB% that ranked among the top-20 in the California League.
Brecht came into 2025 as one of the names to watch in the Rockies’ organization. The former Iowa ace could regularly hit 100 MPH but command wasn’t a strongsuit for him. In his first full pro season, he punched out 87 over 55.1 IP. Brecht had the fourth-best Whiff% (39.9%) in the California League and induced groundballs at a rate above 50%.
Additionally, Lebarron Johnson struck out 44 over 43.2 IP and posted a 29.4% Whiff%. Johnson, a fifth-round pick from 2024, was one of the better strikeout pitchers in the NCAA with UT-Austin over his college career. However, despite the good stuff, Johnson had his walk problems with the Longhorns. With the Grizzlies, the righty walked 25.
Spokane Indians
Charlie Condon missed the first month of 2025 with an injury. And after a brief spell in the ACL, Condon returned to the Northwest League in late May, the same level where he posted a .518 OPS over 25 games.
Condon performed much better in his second run, which came nearly a year after he was drafted. The 1B/OF hit .312/.431/.420 with three home runs and nine extra-base hits over 35 games. He didn’t spend much time in Spokane this past season — and opposing pitchers didn’t give him much to work with.
The former Georgia standout had a take rate just under 59%, among the highest in the Northwest League. And more impressively, fewer than 28% of those takes resulted in a called strike.
Condon was one of several notable hitters who played for the Indians this past season. Also of note were Jared Thomas and Cole Messina, who were second and third-round picks in 2024, respectively, plus fourth-rounder Blake Wright.
Thomas’ 28.2% Whiff% was a tick above the league median (min. 200 swings), one of the few blemishes on his 2025 campaign with Spokane. The 22-year-old slashed .330/.427/.495 with 11 home runs, 22 stolen bases, and 25 extra-base hits across 73 games. And like Condon, Thomas took his pitches; he walked 45 times.
Messina, an accomplished backstop from South Carolina, had his fair share of groundballs. Nonetheless, Messina picked up 31 extra-base hits and 14 stolen bases. On top of that, Messina gunned down runners with regularity. He had a CS% of 39%.
Both Messina (20% Whiff%) and Blake Wright (20.7%) were among the best contact hitters in the Northwest League. The 23-year-old Wright, who only had 11 extra-base hits across 69 games with Fresno, had 25 over 56 games in Spokane. Seven of those were home runs.
Another notable player to point out is Aidan Longwell, a 17th-rounder from Ball State back in 2023. Longwell had 15 home runs and 53 extra-base hits over 121 contests. He also made consistent contact (23.2% Whiff%).
Max Belyeu, the Rockies’ second-round pick from 2025, struggled in High-A Spokane. Belyeu, an accomplished power hitter with the Texas Longhorns, slashed .150/.244/.300 over 21 games. He did hit four home runs but also sported a high Whiff% of 33.3%.
Moving to the pitching staff, the Indians had two relievers, Cade Denton and Welinton Herrera, who raised their stocks before the two pitched in the AFL this past fall.
Denton, who works with mid-90s velocity and has a four-seamer, sinker, mid-80s changeup, and a slower curve, struck out 63 over 50.2 IP with Spokane. Herrera, a 21-year-old left-hander with a fastball/sinker/slider/changeup combo, struck out 29 over 18.1 IP before he quickly moved to Hartford.
The Indians also had several rising starters.
McCade Brown (33.6% Whiff%), who we’ll get more into in the next section, struck out 48 over 33.2 IP. Griffin Herring, who rose very quickly in the Yankees’ farm system before the Rockies acquired him, struck out 47 over 30 frames with Spokane. A high Whiff% of 38.7%.
Hartford Yard Goats
Hartford’s roster was not thin by any means, as the Yard Goats were filled with past first and second-round picks. However, how those players performed in Double-A greatly varied.
We’ll start with Charlie Condon, who performed very well in his second run in Spokane. Things did get more difficult for Condon, as he slashed .235/.342/.465 (.807 OPS) with 11 home runs and 21 extra-base hits over 55 games.
Obviously, a higher power output. At the same time, there was more swing-and-miss, not surprising. In the Northwest League, he only whiffed 27.3% of the time. That spiked (32.9%) in the Eastern League.
Cole Carrigg, a 2023 second-rounder, slashed .237/.316/.394 with 15 home runs, 39 extra-base hits, and 46 stolen bases over 123 games. Carrigg (31% Whiff%) is an aggressive hitter. He struck out 145 times and with Hartford, looked at pitches below 47% of the time — below the EL median.
Kyle Karros (.861 OPS, 24.6% Whiff%) performed very well in Connecticut, one of three stops for him in 2025.
On the flip side, former first-rounder Benny Montgomery had an abysmal year in Hartford. Montgomery posted one of the worst Whiff% in the circuit, and also posted the highest GB% (58.8%) in the league.
Moving to the pitching staff, former first-rounder Gabriel Hughes (55.3% GB%, 25% Whiff%) had a productive run in Double-A. The injury-hampered pitcher posted a 3.07 ERA, and opposing batters hit just .184 off him.
Additionally, the Yard Goats ad two of the best swing-amd-miss pitchers in Welinton Herrera and McCade Brown.
Herrera, who ranked in the top-10 in that category, punched out 70 over 46 innings. Brown, a 2021 MLB Draft pick, struck out 57 over 43 innings and posted a Whiff% above 33%. That performance helped Brown earn a call-up in August.
Albuquerque Isotopes
In a hitters’ paradise, how much stock can you put in the raw numbers down in the Pacific Coast League? It’s a tough one, especially since hitters who aren’t big power hitters do very well there.
Eleven different players had double-digit home run seasons, including Adael Amador, Yanquiel Fernandez, and Ryan Ritter. Fernandez and Ritter both made their MLB debuts this past year.
Gabriel Hughes (22% Whiff%) was one of several notable pitches in the PCL, not a friendly circuit for pitchers, for the Rockies organization. He was hit around a little bit more in Albuquerque, where he posted a 6.11 ERA.
Carson Palmquist (30.5% Whiff%) was arguably the best performer for the Isotopes this season. Palmquist punched out 94 over 77 and only gave up seven home runs,
Early Projected Top 5 for 2026
Ethan Holliday
Charlie Condon
Brody Brecht
Cole Carrigg
Holliday is #1 here. The son of Matt Holliday may not be a shortstop long-term. But, the power potential is immense. It’ll just be interesting to see how much contact he makes in a full season sample size.
Griffin Herring and Brody Brecht were two high risers in 2025.
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