14. Roc Riggio (294 points, 19 ballots)
Riggio, who was the headline prospect in the Jake Bird trade with the Yankees near last year’s trade deadline, is a decent up-the-middle defender who has both power and patience at the plate, all in a compact 5’9” package. The 23-year-old lefty-hitting, righty-throwing second baseman had a breakout 2025, tearing up High-A and Double-A for the Yankees before joining the Rockies organization (where he didn’t quite keep up that torrid pace).
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Mid-season 2025 Rank: 16
High Ballot: 6
Mode Ballot: 13, 14, 26
Future Value: 45, second division regular
Contract Status: 2025 Trade, New York Yankees, Rule 5 Eligible After 2026, three options remaining
MLB ETA: 2026
Riggio was a well-regarded player out of high school, but a commitment to Oklahoma State resulted in a fall to the 11th round in 2021 (though he didn’t sign with the Brewers who had drafted him there). Two strong years with Josh Holliday’s team (including a 1.139 OPS his draft year) led to Riggio getting drafted in the fourth round of 2023 by the Yankees and signing for a $693k bonus that was almost $200k over the slot value.
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As a professional, Riggio was solid in his first full year of professional ball in 2024, putting up a walk-heavy 117 wRC+ (.221/.349/.397) with 11 homers and 27 steals in High-A at a league-average age. In 2025, Riggio was delayed a month by a hand injury and went back to High-A. He quickly showed that he had mastered the level, hitting .264/.436/.597 with six homers in 94 plate appearances while walking 21% of the time, which was a 195 wRC+. That earned Riggio a promotion to Double-A, where he was slightly below league average age.
Against upper minors pitching, Riggio kept on hitting well. In 170 plate appearances with New York’s Double-A affiliate, he hit 11 homers and 10 doubles en route to a .261/.335/.542 line (155 wRC+, though he only walked in 8% of PA) before getting traded away to the Rockies at the deadline. Riggio was assigned to Hartford (which is the same league he was beating up on in the Yankees system), where his power surge diminished a bit. Riggio hit .256/.346/.389 with two homers and six doubles in 107 plate appearances (113 wRC+), buoyed by a 13% walk rate. Those Hartford numbers were bolstered by an excellent September in which Riggio put up a .905 OPS in 39 plate appearances. In the field, Riggio committed seven errors in 66 games at second base.
Here’s a look at Riggio’s 2024 offensive and defensive highlights, beginning with a double play that has to be seen to be believed and which shows Riggio’s baseball IQ (as does his straight steal of home later in the video):
There is some divisiveness around Riggio as a prospect. Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.com has been highest on Riggio, ranking him second in the system and 120th overall in MLB last week (no writeup), while Keith Law of the Athletic didn’t rank Riggio in his top 20 earlier this month. Law wrote that:
Riggio is an undersized second baseman who swings straight up, somehow slugging over .500 in Double-A Somerset in 40 games, then slugging .389 at the same level in Hartford afterward. I don’t think he’s more than an emergency call-up
MLB.com recently ranked Riggio as the ninth best second base prospect in the sport with a 45 FV grade, though without any standout tools:
As an undersized masher who doesn’t get cheated at the plate, Riggio has reminded some of a left-handed-hitting Dustin Pedroia type, albeit without the same pure hit tool. With an open stance and a leg kick, he thrives on getting the ball in the air to his pull side, with the bulk of his 20 homers a year ago leaving the yard that way. He’s not afraid to work counts or draw walks and can punish fastballs, but while his overall approach is solid, he struggles with breaking stuff (40 percent miss rate in 2025) and didn’t handle lefties well.
While he’s a below-average runner, Riggio likes to move on the basepaths, though he was less successful last year when attempting to steal. He’s likely limited to second base, but he has enough skills to perhaps stick at the keystone as a bat-first regular, with perhaps a floor on the long end of a platoon.
Eric Longenhagen at FanGraphs liked Riggio the most of the Rockies’ trade acquisitions (ranking him 10th among players dealt at the deadline and comparing him to Roughned Odor in both skill and demeanor) and grades him as a 45 FV player, seventh in the system with a 60 future grade on fielding to go with 55 grades on power:
Lefty-hitting infielders with this kind of bat speed are uncommon, and the Yankees made changes to Riggio’s swing (he has a much bigger leg kick now) that have made it more athletic and seem to have positively impacted his plate coverage. He’s been more dangerous than vulnerable against pitches out away from him this year, and had a 55% hard-hit rate around the midway point of the summer. Riggio is no slouch as a defender, either, even though he is likely limited to second base. His surface stats are a caricature of his true talent because the hitting environments at Hudson Valley and Somerset are favorable, but this is still an “arrow up” prospect who is starting to look like a potential everyday second baseman.
Riggio has big league-regular potential at second base thanks to his power/patience combo, defensive instincts, and overall baseball IQ. I’m excited about his offensive potential with the Rockies and am inclined to round up his likelihood of reaching that potential, ranking him sixth on my ballot as a 45 FV player. Riggio will be in the upper minors scrum in 2026 but figures to compete for a big-league roster spot with post-prospects Adael Amador and Ryan Ritter before he’ll need to be added to the 40-man roster at the end of the season.
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