The 2025 season was a nadir in Colorado Rockies franchise history, but it\u2019s in the rearview mirror now. With new management in place, hope springs anew as the calendar turns to 2026 and it\u2019s time to dream about the future. That means a new edition of the Purple Row Prospects (PuRPs) list \u2014 Purple Row\u2019s community farm system Top 30 ranking \u2014 to rank the new additions to the system as well as the holdovers who have risen and fallen with their production through the 2025 season.<\/p>\n
Since the last time we voted in August (here\u2019s the mid-season 2025 list<\/a>), some prospects lost their eligibility, whether from exceeding their rookie status or leaving the organization. Meanwhile other players have been added and need to be evaluated. Building a roster is a year-round business, so player churn will no doubt continue during and after voting, but this is a good time to take stock of Colorado\u2019s prospects.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n The\u00a0Colorado Rockies<\/a>\u2019 farm system is generally\u00a0ranked in the bottom half of MLB<\/a>\u00a0by the national prospect watchers despite a high draft position and selling a bit at the deadline. That written, there are plenty of future Rockies in the system and this is one of my favorite Purple Row threads each year.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s get to it!<\/p>\n The polling rules are simple:<\/p>\n Your list must be at least 30 players long \u2013 partial ballots will not be counted. If you\u2019re having trouble filling out your list, check out great resources like\u00a0FanGraphs<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Baseball Reference<\/a>\u00a0to find any stats you might need. Only the top 30 names will be counted on the ballot; if the same player is listed multiple times on the ballot, the player ranked 31st (if applicable) will be moved up to fill the list. The same will happen if one of the players on your ballot leaves the organization between your post and the end of polling. To reiterate:\u00a0if there aren\u2019t at least 30 distinct players on the list, the ballot will not be counted. For that reason, it is encouraged that you list more than 30 players in case of a duplicate listing or a player move.<\/p>\n Feel free to give a rationale about the placement of each prospect, but you aren\u2019t required to do so.<\/p>\n Voting will be open from now until the end of Friday, January 9th.\u00a0Once I tabulate the results, I will reveal the list one-at-a-time over the next several weeks after voting ends.<\/p>\n Players are eligible for inclusion if they still retain their Rookie of the Year eligibility (fewer than 50 IP, 130 ABs, and\/or fewer than 45 days on the active roster. IL service time is not included).<\/p>\n From the mid-season 2025 PuRPs list,\u00a0prospects who are no longer eligible\u00a0are Kyle Karros (No. 4 PuRP, MLB service time), Yanquiel Fern\u00e1ndez (No. 10 PuRP, service time), Ryan Ritter (No. 13 PuRP, service time), Jaden Hill (No. 20 PuRP, service time), Warming Bernabel (No. 23 PuRP, no longer in org), Drew Romo (No. 24 PuRP, no longer in org), Braxton Fulford (No. 27 PuRP, service time), Connor Van Scoyoc (received votes, no longer in org), and Braiden Ward (received votes, no longer in org).<\/p>\n Players\u00a0who have made their MLB debut and who\u00a0are\u00a0still eligible\u00a0for this list include Zac Veen (No. 7 PuRP), McCade Brown (No. 26 PuRP), Blaine Crim (no votes), Jeff Criswell (no votes), Evan Justice (no votes), Chad Stevens (wasn\u2019t in org), Drew Avans (wasn\u2019t in org), and Garrett Acton (wasn\u2019t in org).<\/p>\n Roster churn is a year-round phenomenon. Any necessary changes will be made to the final version of the list to ensure it contains the top 30 players with the most votes still in the org at that time.<\/p>\n Scoring will be in done like the AP poll in college football. A first place vote gets a player 30 points, a second place vote 29, and so forth on down to one point for a 30th place vote. It\u2019s important to note that until a player is named on at least 1\u20443 of all ballots cast that their vote totals will only receive partial credit (on a sliding scale which depends on the total number of ballots cast).<\/p>\n