Colorado Rockies: Will DJ LeMahieu return to Colorado in Free Agency following this season?
By Paul Ashley
Although LeMahieu would not be easily replaceable, the Rockies do have reinforcements in the waiting with their top infield prospect recently reaching Triple-A and their second top infield prospect reaching the MLB level.
The Colorado Rockies top infield prospects are named Brendan Rodgers and Garrett Hampson. According to MLB Pipeline’s top 30 Rockies prospects, Rodgers is ranked #1 while Hampson is ranked #4.
Rodgers made the Double-A All-Star team this season and posted a .275 AVG and an .835 OPS through 357 ABs for the Hartford Yard Goats. This earned him a call up to Triple-A, but he has not performed well by posting a .232 AVG and a .554 OPS through his first 69 ABs with the Albuquerque Isotopes.
Hampson posted a .304 AVG and an .857 OPS through 148 ABs for the Yard Goats. Similar to Rodgers, his performance earned a midseason call up to the Isotopes. Unlike Rodgers, Hampson performed very well in Triple-A where he posted a .314 AVG and an .836 OPS through 296 ABs.
Hampson’s performance at the minor league level earned him a call up to the big leagues when DJ LeMahieu went on the disabled list with a left oblique strain on July 21st. Although he was sent back down, he has since been recalled to the MLB level a second and third time.
The second time was a brief appearance in August and the third time was part of the September expanded roster call ups. Through a limited 29 ABs at the MLB level, he has a .241 AVG with a .750 OPS. Even though this is a small sample size without steady ABs, the Rockies may not want to gamble on an unproven prospect playing full-time at second base with Arenado entering his final year of team control in 2019.