- Ezequiel Tovar is showing why the Rockies consider him their shortstop of the future, as the 20-year-old is hitting .317/.398/.581 with 11 homers and 16 steals (in 17 chances) over 211 plate appearances at Double-A Hartford. This offensive surge is very promising, as consistent hitting was considered the last piece of the puzzle for a player who is already considered a superb defender. As The Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders notes, there is precedent for the Rox moving fast with promising shortstops, as Trevor Story played only 61 games at Triple-A and Troy Tulowitzki skipped Triple-A entirely prior to his big league debut. Given that Tovar missed a full year of game development due to the canceled 2020 minor league season, the Rockies may not be quite as aggressive with a promotion this time around, but Tovar is certainly drawing attention. Baseball America bumped Tovar all way up to the #26 position on their midseason ranking of the game’s top 100 prospects.
Rockies Rumors
Rockies’ Ryan Rolison, Colton Welker Expected To Undergo Shoulder Surgery
The Rockies will lose two players — left-hander Ryan Rolison and third baseman Colton Welker — to shoulder surgery, reports Nick Groke of the Athletic. According to Danielle Allentuck of the Colorado Springs Gazette (Twitter link), both players will be out for the rest of the season.
Rolison may be the more well-known of the duo, even though he’s yet to make his major league debut. Colorado selected him with the 22nd overall pick in the 2018 draft, and he’s been one of the more highly-regarded arms in the organization for the past few years. The Ole Miss product’s stock has dipped a bit recently, however, as he’s not had a ton of reps since the end of the 2019 campaign.
After the pandemic resulted in the cancelation of the 2020 minor league season, Rolison was limited to 14 starts last year. He underwent an appendix procedure and missed two months between June and August. Even when healthy, Rolison struggled to a 5.91 ERA through ten Triple-A starts — albeit in a very hitter-friendly environment in Albuquerque. Baseball America nevertheless ranked him the #4 prospect in the system over the offseason, writing that he could be a back-end starter, but he’ll now lose a full season of reps.
Colorado added Rolison to the 40-man roster over the winter, but he’s spent the entire season on the 60-day injured list. He’ll collect a full year of MLB service time and a $700K salary while rehabbing.
Welker is also on the 40-man, counting against the roster while on the minor league injured list. Colorado could recall him and put him on the MLB 60-day IL to free a spot, although they’d have to pay him the prorated portion of the league minimum for any time on that list.
The 24-year-old infielder appeared in ten games with the Isotopes, hitting .324/.422/.514. He’ll lose virtually all of the season, his third straight limited campaign. After the 2020 season cancelation, Welker missed most of last year serving an 80-game suspension following a positive test for a performance-enhancing substance. He made his big league debut last September, appearing in 19 games.
Rockies Select Chad Smith
The Rockies have selected the contract of right-hander Chad Smith, The Denver Gazette’s Danielle Allentuck reports (Twitter links). In corresponding moves, left-hander Helcris Olivarez was moved to the 60-day injured list due to a shoulder strain, while righty Ashton Goudeau was optioned to Triple-A. Goudeau’s transaction is just an on-paper move, however, as Allentuck notes that Goudeau will act as the 27th man for the Rockies’ doubleheader with the Nationals today.
Not to be confused with the Chad Smith who used to pitch with the Tigers and Athletics, this Smith was an 11th-round pick for the Marlins in the 2016 draft, and was acquired by the Rockies in exchange for Jesus Tinoco back in August 2020. Just a few days shy of his 27th birthday, Smith is now set to make his Major League debut.
Over two seasons with Triple-A Albuquerque, Smith has an impressive 2.58 ERA and 28.9% strikeout rate over 52 1/3 relief innings in 2021-22. After battling control problems for much of his pro career, Smith has shown very good improvement this season with only a 6.9% walk rate over his 19 frames of work. If Smith has been able to harness his command, he could be a very intriguing reliever to watch, given his velocity, ability to miss bats, and his ability to induce grounders (averaging over a 60% groundball rate during his minor league career).
Kris Bryant Expected To Miss 2-3 Weeks
MAY 27: Colorado doesn’t seem particularly concerned about Bryant’s absence. General manager Bill Schmidt told Jon Heyman of the New York Post the former MVP is expected back in two-to-three weeks.
MAY 25: The Rockies announced Wednesday that left fielder Kris Bryant has once again been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a lower back strain. The IL placement is retroactive to May 23. Bryant missed nearly a month after being placed on the IL with this same injury in late April. He’d only been active for two games before being scratched from Monday’s contest and will now be out until at least June 2. Right-hander Ryan Feltner is up from Triple-A Albuquerque to take Bryant’s spot on the active roster.
Clearly, this isn’t the way that either Bryant or the Rockies envisioned his seven-year, $182MM contract beginning. The former National League Rookie of the Year, National League MVP and four-time All-Star has appeared in just 17 of the Rockies’ 42 games thus far and has yet to connect on his first long ball with the Rox. He’s hitting .270/.342/.333 through his first 73 plate appearances — well above league average in the first two of those three slash stats — but the lack of power and lack of time on the field are both glaring.
There’s no indication from the team as to just how long Bryant is expected to be shelved in this latest stint. It’s worth noting, however, that when Bryant originally hit the injured list back in late April, the Rockies suggested that he could be back on the field in a couple weeks’ time. Instead, as first reported by Nick Groke of The Athletic, Bryant required a cortisone injection a couple weeks into that original IL placement and was ultimately out of action for nearly four weeks. The Rox have a daytime tilt against the Pirates coming up in just under three hours, and it stands to reason that manager Bud Black will offer more information prior to gametime.
Colorado raced out to a 10-5 start to the 2022 season, igniting some hope among the fanbase that perhaps a turnaround of the team’s woeful 2019-21 performance was at hand. They’ve gone 10-17 since that start, however, and have been in a particular funk of late (just four wins in their past 15 games). The resulting 20-22 record and their -28 run differential are both the worst marks in the National League West.
With Bryant back on the shelf into early June, the Rockies will likely to turn to a combination of Connor Joe, Yonathan Daza and Sam Hilliard to cover the workload in left field. Joe has been in the lineup regularly, often as a designated hitter, but could see some extra outfield work now. Daza and Hilliard, meanwhile, figure to see an increase in at-bats with Bryant out.
In a strict platoon deployment, the left-handed-hitting Hilliard would see the bulk of the work, but he’s hitting just .160/.255/.296 to Daza’s .350/.404/.400 thus far in 2022, so perhaps the latter will receive a larger look. Daza’s batting line is being propped up by a .384 average on balls in play that he’s unlikely to sustain, but his minuscule 9.0% strikeout rate so far certainly gives him a chance to remain productive even as that BABIP trends back toward his career levels. Notably, Daza is starting in center field today against a right-handed opponent. Joe is in left field, with Hilliard available off the bench.
As for the 25-year-old Feltner, he’ll make his fourth career start later today when he takes the mound in Pittsburgh. His first three haven’t gone particularly well — he’s surrendered a dozen runs in 11 1/3 MLB innings to date — but the 2018 fourth-rounder is out to a solid start in Triple-A this year. Through 38 1/3 innings, Feltner carries a 3.76 ERA with a 30% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate and 38.9% ground-ball rate. With Antonio Senzatela on the injured list — also due to a back strain — Feltner could see an increase in his opportunities in the coming weeks, particularly if he shows well in today’s spot start.
Bryant To Be Evaluated After Being Scratched From Lineup
Signed to a seven-year, $182MM contract in free agency this past offseason, Bryant was viewed by the Rockies as a potential lineup centerpiece who’d bolster a revamped outfield that also featured trade acquisition Randal Grichuk. Bryant, however, has gotten out to a tepid .270/.342/.333 start to the season and yet to put a ball in the seats. The Rox barely changed the rest of their roster but did sign four in-house players to multi-year extensions (Ryan McMahon, Antonio Senzatela, C.J. Cron and Elias Diaz). Ownership and the restructured/thinned-out front office group clearly had confidence that last year’s group could deliver better results, and while that’s been true to an extent, the Rox are currently at fifth place in the NL West with a 19-22 record.
Rockies left fielder Kris Bryant was scratched from yesterday’s game about 90 minutes before first pitch due to continued discomfort in his back, writes Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. He’ll be further evaluated today, but it’s an ominous scratch given that Bryant only just returned from a month-long absence due to a lower back injury.
Signed to a seven-year, $182MM contract in free agency this past offseason, Bryant was viewed by the Rockies as a potential lineup centerpiece who’d bolster a revamped outfield that also featured trade acquisition Randal Grichuk. Bryant, however, has gotten out to a tepid .270/.342/.333 start to the season and yet to put a ball in the seats. The Rox barely changed the rest of their roster but did sign four in-house players to multi-year extensions (Ryan McMahon, Antonio Senzatela, C.J. Cron and Elias Diaz). Ownership and the restructured/thinned-out front office group clearly had confidence that last year’s group could deliver better results, and while that’s been true to an extent, the Rox are currently at fifth place in the NL West with a 19-22 record.
NL Central Notes: Carlson, Brewers, Cousins, Pirates, Kuhl
Brewers right-hander Jake Cousins has been shut down for the next 4-6 weeks after receiving a PRP injection, Cousins told Curt Hogg of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other reporters. Cousins has been on the IL since May 1, though an issue with his UCL was detected two weeks ago and the reliever was known to be seeking out a second opinion before deciding on his next treatment. Both of the consulting doctors recommended the injection, and Cousins will now embark on what will still be a pretty lengthy absence, even if he has been able to avoid surgery. If Cousins’ arm problems weren’t enough, he also told the media that he recently recovered from a case of COVID-19.
Depending on when Cousins is cleared to begin throwing or if a 40-man roster spot is required, it is quite possibly that the Brewers could shift him to the 60-day IL at some point. The righty made his MLB debut last season and made an immediate impact in Milwaukee’s bullpen, and Cousins has a 3.08 ERA over 38 total innings of big league action, with hefty strikeout (35%) and walk (14.7%) rates.
More from around the NL Central…
- Cardinals outfielder Dylan Carlson looked to be favoring his left hamstring during a third-inning flyout, and had to leave the game with what the club described as hamstring tightness. More will be known about Carlson’s status after post-game testing, but St. Louis has Corey Dickerson or utilityman Tommy Edman on hand to fill in for Carlson, and Lars Nootbar would likely be the first call-up from Triple-A. The Cards are already short a regular in the outfield with Tyler O’Neill on the 10-day IL due to a right shoulder impingement. After impressing during his first full MLB season in 2021, Carlson has hit only .247/.291/.363 in 158 plate appearances this season, in large part due to some brutal hard-contact numbers.
- The Pirates decided to non-tender Chad Kuhl last winter, resulting in Kuhl signing a one-year, $3MM deal with the Rockies. Kuhl has started all seven of his games with Colorado (with a solid 3.86 ERA), and told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Jason Mackey that the Pirates were only interested in retaining Kuhl if he made a full-time move to the bullpen. “No offense to anybody who’s starting in Pittsburgh right now, but I felt like I was worthy of being in the starting rotation there….Me and [GM Ben Cherington] had a talk. That’s where they saw me,” Kuhl said. “No bad blood or anything like that. It just gave me an opportunity to start somewhere else.” Kuhl missed around half of the 2018 season and all of 2019 with a forearm injury that resulted in Tommy John surgery, and then posted a 4.62 ERA over 126 2/3 frames for Pittsburgh in 2020-21, starting 23 of 39 games.
Rockies Reinstate Kris Bryant
The Rockies announced that they have reinstated Kris Bryant from the injured list. Ashton Goudeau, who was optioned after Thursday’s game without a corresponding move, has been recalled to serve as the 27th man for today’s doubleheader.
Signed to a massive seven-year, $182MM contract in the offseason, Bryant immediately became the face of the franchise in Denver. His tenure in that position got off to a bit of a slow start, as he hit .281/.338/.351 for an 85 wRC+ in his first 15 games as a Rockie, though it’s possible his production was being squeezed by the back soreness that ultimately landed him on the injured list.
It was thought to be a relatively minor issue with the possibility of Bryant returning after the 10-day minimum stint on the IL, though it ended up taking over three weeks for him to return. It was reported a few days ago that mere rest wasn’t taking care of the issue, with Bryant eventually receiving a cortisone shot to help his recovery.
Although capable of playing multiple positions, Bryant has only been slotted into left field on days where he took the field so far this year, along with three starts at designated hitter. Since Bryant’s absence, the left field playing time has been spread around to Connor Joe, Sam Hilliard and Yonathan Daza. Joe and Daza have both been hitting well on the season so far, with Joe putting up a batting line of .278/.368/.436 for a wRC+ of 119, while Daza’s line is .375/.425/.431, 134 wRC+. Hilliard, however, has slumped to a .159/.268/.304 performance, amounting to a 54 wRC+. Based on those numbers, he seems to be the one most likely to be squeezed out by Bryant’s return.
Despite Bryant’s mediocre start to the year, the club was faring better when he was around. They went 12-9 in April but have a 6-10 record thus far in May. Although just a hair under .500 at 18-19, they are currently in the bottom of the NL West, arguably the strongest division in baseball.
Rockies Place Antonio Senzatela On Injured List
The Rockies placed starter Antonio Senzatela on the 15-day injured list because of a low back strain. Colorado also selected catcher Brian Serven to the big league roster, optioned Dom Nuñez to Triple-A Albuquerque and recalled reliever Justin Lawrence.
Senzatela departed yesterday’s outing against the Giants after two innings. The righty came out for the top of the third but left the game during his pre-inning warm-ups in discomfort. The injury will obviously cost him some time, but Danielle Allentuck of the Colorado Springs Gazette tweets the organization is hopeful he can return when first eligible two weeks from now. The Rox are off on Thursday, so they can proceed with the remaining four of Germán Márquez, Kyle Freeland, Chad Kuhl and Austin Gomber on regular rest until next Tuesday.
Through his first seven starts on the year, Senzatela owns a 4.55 ERA. He’s struck out just 11 of the 137 batters he’s faced (a league-low 8%). That’s a concerning mark even for Senzatela, who typically posts one of the lower strikeout numbers in the game. Nevertheless, his blend of strong control and ground-balls has translated to decent enough back-of-the-rotation production. Colorado was clearly pleased with his effort, rewarding him with a five-year extension last September.
Serven, meanwhile, will step onto the roster as the backup to Elias Díaz. That role had fallen to Nuñez to start the year, but he’s struggled in limited playing time. The 27-year-old Serven, meanwhile, is off to a scorching .273/.406/.506 start with the Isotopes. He’s popped five home runs and drawn 16 free passes while going down on strikes just 15 times.
A former 5th-round pick out of Arizona State, Serven is now in line for his first MLB action. The right-handed hitter owns a more modest .245/.318/.429 slash line over parts of six professional seasons, but his hot start earned him a spot on the depth chart. Colorado had previously been carrying only Díaz and Nuñez as catchers on the 40-man roster.
Kris Bryant Set For Rehab Assignment, Could Return This Weekend
- Kris Bryant is joining the Rockies’ Triple-A affiliate for a pair of minor league rehab games this week, tweets Danielle Allentuck of the Denver Gazette. If all goes well, he could be back in the lineup for the Rox by the weekend. Out since April 26 due to a back injury that the team hoped would require a minimum IL stay, Bryant will instead wind up missing three-plus weeks of action, at least. As Nick Groke of The Athletic writes, Bryant received a cortisone shot last week after an initial period of rest didn’t fully remedy his ailment. Bryant’s return could push the struggling Sam Hilliard to Triple-A, particularly with the out-of-options Yonathan Daza hitting well at the moment and thus giving the team a productive fourth outfield option. Utilityman Garrett Hampson is also capable of playing all three outfield spots, though he’s been primarily used as an infielder in 2022.
Rockies, Jose Urena Agree To Minor League Deal
The Rockies have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander José Ureña, reports Thomas Harding of MLB.com (Twitter link). He’ll head to the team’s Arizona complex before embarking on an affiliated assignment.
Ureña elected free agency earlier this week after being outrighted by the Brewers. The 30-year-old broke camp with Milwaukee and spent a month on the active roster, appearing in four games out of the bullpen. Ureña tossed 7 2/3 innings of five-run ball, striking out three batters and issuing five walks. The Brew Crew then designated him for assignment on the deadline to trim active rosters from 28 to 26 players; Ureña has enough service time that he couldn’t be optioned to the minors without his consent.
That brief run in Milwaukee marked the eighth consecutive season in which the Dominican Republic native has appeared in the majors. He spent the first six years of his MLB career in Miami, primarily working as a starting pitcher. Ureña’s tenure with the Marlins was up-and-down, but he posted consecutive seasons with an ERA below 4.00 while soaking up a rotation workload from 2017-18. He’s consistently run below-average strikeout and swinging strike numbers, but he typically posts capable ground-ball marks.
Ureña caught on with the Tigers last season but put up a 5.81 ERA in 100 2/3 innings. He managed a personal-best 52% grounder rate last year, though, which is no doubt of interest to the Colorado front office. While his early results with the Brewers weren’t good, he also averaged north of 96 MPH on his fastball in abbreviated stints.
The Rockies have started the year 16-15, although that respectable showing still places them at the bottom of a loaded NL West. Colorado starters have the league’s third-lowest strikeout rate (17.8%), but they’ve been among the five best in terms of generating grounders (47.7%). Ureña fits a similar profile and could be a rotation or long relief depth option.
