MLB Pipeline Re-Ranks Top Farm Systems
By Jason Burke
#10 Colorado Rockies
Coors Field and pitching. Oh, the headaches. Even though the Rockies pitching staff’s cumulative ERA of 4.76 ranks 27th in baseball, they also hold a 10.3 WAR, good for 12th. By comparison, the Cleveland Indians staff, which is widely regarded as one of the best in the game, ranks 10th in WAR with an 11.2.
A lot was made over the Rockies additions this past winter on the Statcast Podcast, where they mentioned numerous times that Colorado looked to be adding pitchers that used their fastballs quite a bit. That, plus the arrival of Jon Gray (among others) have the Rox sitting at 54-54.
While he made his debut last week, the Rockies number two prospect, David Dahl, hasn’t had enough at-bats to be taken off of the list quite yet. In his 40 ABs, Dahl is 15-for-40 for a .375 batting average and a .405 on-base percentage. While you may be thinking that Coors Field is aiding his production, seven of his ten games have been played on the road, which is also where two of his three home runs have come.
The number one prospect on the list is Brendan Rodgers, who was selected number three overall in the 2015 Draft. After Dahl at number two are right-handers Jeff Hoffman (acquired in the Troy Tulowitzki deal) and Riley Pint of “The Arm” fame from the 2016 draft. Pint is another pitcher with a solid heater while Hoffman was selected 9th overall by Toronto in 2014.
Hoffman’s 4.35 ERA won’t blow anyone away, but it’s not a terrible mark in the altitude of Triple-A Albuquerque. His 9.1 strikeouts per nine this season are the highest of his career, and his 3.3 walks per nine rate is a bit high, but certainly manageable. Expect Hoffman, Gray and rookie Tyler Anderson to be a big part of the Colorado rotation in 2017, in addition to their big bats and the friendly altitude. The Rockies fell from fourth to tenth in part because of the promotions of Trevor Story and Jon Gray.
The Rockies have five of MLB Pipeline’s top 100 prospects, which will become a theme that you’ll notice in subsequent slides.
Best name in the top 30: Antonio Senzatela (#9).
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