{"id":610573,"date":"2026-03-06T22:29:38","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T22:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/610573\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T22:29:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T22:29:38","slug":"rockies-land-no-players-not-even-hunter-goodman-in-espn-s-top-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/610573\/","title":{"rendered":"Rockies land no players — not even Hunter Goodman? — in ESPN ‘s top 100"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Rockies are batting 0 for 100, even before the season\u2019s first pitch.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to ESPN\u2019s annual list of the top 100 players<\/a> in the majors. The Rockies, Marlins and Cardinals are the only teams without a player on the list. More than two dozen ESPN baseball experts submitted their top 100 rankings, and the ESPN baseball staff averaged them to create the final list.\n<\/p>\n

I\u2019m tempted to say that the list will put a big chip on the shoulders of three Rockies players: shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, center fielder Brenton Doyle, and, especially, catcher Hunter Goodman. But then, when your team loses 119 games, you don\u2019t get many chips to play with.\n<\/p>\n

For the record, there are 13 shortstops on ESPN\u2019s list, led by Royals star Bobby Witt Jr., who comes in as the third-best player in baseball. The Athletics\u2019 Jacob Wilson is ranked 94th, and the Nationals\u2019 CJ Abrams is No. 98.\n<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe Tovar is considered a lesser shortstop than Wilson and Abrams, but then, Tovar had a forgettable 2025 season. Left hip and left oblique injuries limited him to 95 games and a .253\/.294\/.400 slash line.\n<\/p>\n

In 2024, however, Tovar won a Gold Glove Award, led the National League with 45 doubles, and led Colorado with 26 home runs. Prediction: Tovar will be among baseball\u2019s top-10 shortstops in 2026.\n<\/p>\n

Goodman was Colorado\u2019s lone All-Star last season<\/a>. He admits he needs to become better behind the plate, but he\u2019s a force with a bat in his hand. He hit .278 last season with 31 homers, 28 doubles and five triples.\n<\/p>\n

There are seven catchers on ESPN\u2019s list, led by Seattle sensation Cal Raleigh. The Brewers\u2019 William Contreras (No. 28) is the National League\u2019s top-ranked catcher. I get it, he\u2019s an excellent game-caller in his prime.<\/p>\n

Still, Goodman has a right to feel snubbed. After all, last season he led NL catchers in average, home runs, slugging (.520), OPS (.843), and RBIs (91).\n<\/p>\n

Doyle won Gold Gloves in center field in 2023 and \u201924, but last season was a \u201crollercoaster,\u201d as he called it. Injuries, dealing with his wife\u2019s miscarriage, and some flaws in his swing reduced his slash line to a pedestrian .233\/.274\/.376 with 15 homers and 18 stolen bases in 138 games. That was quite a come-down from \u201924 when he slashed .260\/.317\/.446 with 23 homers and 30 stolen bases in 149 games.\n<\/p>\n

So Doyle is on the outside looking in at the seven other center fielders on ESPN\u2019s top 100, led by Seattle\u2019s Julio Rodriguez (No. 9) and Cubs budding superstar Pete Crow-Armstrong (No. 22). Doyle has the talent to be a dynamic player for many years, but he has a lot to prove.
\n\"CharlieCharlie Condon #66 of the Colorado Rockies greets his teammates in the dugout after hitting a home run during the fourth inning of the spring training game against the San Francisco Giants at Scottsdale Stadium on February 26, 2026 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Mike Christy\/Getty Images)\n<\/p>\n

Hot in the desert. No. 2 prospect Charlie Condon is having a sweet spring, but I don\u2019t see him making the 26-man roster coming out of camp.<\/p>\n

The future first baseman\/outfielder entered Thursday\u2019s game hitting .467 with a 1.623 OPS, three home runs and five RBIs in 15 at-bats. That\u2019s impressive for a player in his first big-league camp, but manager Warren Schaeffer, president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta, and Rockies coaches are weighing more than at-bats vs. second-tier pitchers or veterans testing out their spring stuff. Condon still has to prove he can hit big-league fastballs.<\/p>\n

However, a strong spring, followed by a solid stint at Triple-A Albuquerque, makes a big-league debut this season a realistic possibility \u2014 perhaps before the All-Star break.<\/p>\n

Karros watch. Kyle Karros, my pick as Colorado\u2019s breakout player this season, is a future Gold Glove third baseman, at least according to Schaeffer, who\u2019s said more than once this spring.<\/p>\n

But that doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s a lock to make the 26-man roster. DePodesta and company are trying to determine if Karros needs more minor league at-bats before he becomes the everyday third baseman.<\/p>\n

Karros made his debut last season, hitting .226 with one home run in 43 games (156 plate appearances). Keep in mind that Karros was worn down by a long season and faced some of the majors\u2019 best pitchers in his short stint with the Rockies.<\/p>\n

As the Cactus League continues, the Rockies\u2019 brass will be watching Karros carefully to see if he\u2019s major-league ready at the plate.<\/p>\n

But one thing is for certain: When Karros is the starting third baseman, that frees up free-agent signee Willi Castro to play second and gives the Rockies a much better defensive infield.\n<\/p>\n

Fill up the zone. Rockies pitchers, especially the starters, are experimenting with new grips and new pitches this spring. The result has been a lot of walks \u2014 56 in the first 12 Cactus League games. However, one pitcher has been a strike-throwing machine in both games and practice. That\u2019s right-handed reliever Zach Agnos. In his first three appearances (three innings), he\u2019s allowed no runs, fanned five, and walked none.\n<\/p>\n

A healthy Agnos would be a big boost for the back of the bullpen. He held opponents scoreless in 12 of his 14 career games last season, but then his elbow started barking, and he lost his edge. Agnos was on the injured list from July 27 to Sept. 24 with a flexor strain.\n<\/p>\n

Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Rockies are batting 0 for 100, even before the season\u2019s first pitch. That\u2019s according to ESPN\u2019s annual…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2405],"tags":[5,1004,5250,3297,4141,167,52,4316,649,869,10138,2092,853,4,1027,505,58626,168,185,8565,9130,10338],"class_list":["post-610573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-colorado-rockies","tag-baseball","tag-brenton-doyle","tag-cactus-league","tag-cal-raleigh","tag-charlie-condon","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-coloradorockies","tag-espn","tag-ezequiel-tovar","tag-gold-glove-award","tag-hunter-goodman","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-more-rockies-news","tag-national-league","tag-paul-depodesta","tag-rockies","tag-sports","tag-triple-a-albuquerque","tag-warren-schaeffer","tag-zach-agnos"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116184598670219492","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}