These are the seven players who weren’t quite honorable mentions
After revealing the players who appeared on a single ballot and then those who appeared on two or three ballots, it’s time to talk about seven players who were just outside Honorable Mention status as voted by the Purple Row electorate in the pre-season 2025 Purple Row Prospects (PuRPs) voting.
For each player, I’ll include a link to individual stats and contract status (via Baseball-Reference), as well as notes on their 2024 season. For the sake of full disclosure, I’ll also include where I put each player on my personal ballot. All ages are as of the day the article is posted.
Multi-Ballot Players
42. Cade Denton (7.6 points, 4 ballots) — the 6’3” 23-year-old right-hander was one of the best acclaimed relievers in the 2023 MLB Draft. The Rockies took Denton in the sixth round out of Oral Roberts University (he threw 64 innings with ORU as a junior with a 1.83 ERA, 0.98 WHIP, 12.1 K/9 rate, and 2.1 BB/9 rate) and signed him for an over-slot (by $163k) bonus of $500k.
In 2024, Denton had his season delayed to May to strengthen his shoulder. After a three outing build up stint in the Arizona Complex League (ACL), he was assigned in Low-A Fresno, where he was league average age. Denton made 26 appearances with Fresno, throwing 28 1⁄3 innings with a 2.86 ERA and 1.27 WHIP, striking out 23 with seven walks. He was bumped up to High-A Spokane in mid-August, where he was 1.1 years younger than average. There Denton made five further appearances — allowing six runs on eight hits and a walk while striking out three in 7 1⁄3 innings.
Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs listed Denton as a prospect of note earlier this month due to a downtick in 2024 velocity vs. his draft year:
Denton was a dominant low-slot reliever at Oral Roberts whose fastball lost two ticks and sat 92 in 2024. At 93-96 with uphill angle and tail, he looks like a nasty righty specialist; at 90-94, he looks like a fringe prospect.
MLB.com places Denton 27th in the system with a 40 FV grade:
A 6-foot-3 right-hander, Denton relies heavily on two above-average pitches that move in opposite directions that work against hitters on both sides of the plate. His fastball tops out at 99 mph and typically sits in the 93-95 mph range, coming to the plate on a flat angle before veering right. He complements the heater with a low-80s slider that’s a tick better than his fastball. It breaks left and features good depth.
Denton does have an upper-80s changeup that he’ll use on occasion, but he’s mostly a fastball-slider guy who misses bats and gets weak contact on the ground with those two offerings. He’s athletic on the mound and finds the strike zone consistently working from a lower, almost sidearm slot that adds funk and deception. Assuming Denton remains healthy, he should be able to climb the Rockies’ ladder rapidly.
After the 2023 draft, Keith Law of the Athletic said that Denton was:
A sidearming right-hander up to 94 mph with a sweepy slider that’s pretty effective against right-handed batters. He doesn’t have a weapon for lefties but didn’t show much platoon split this year. He’s a reliever due to the delivery but what sort depends on whether he can continue to get lefties out at all.
Denton is another guy on the pile of relief arms amassing in the system (I put a 35+ FV grade on him) and will likely begin the season back in Spokane.
41. Evan Justice (9.2 points, 4 ballots) — the 26-year-old lefty reliever looked like a lock to exhaust his rookie eligibility after a 2023 run in the MLB bullpen, but major wildness and injuries limited Justice to only one big-league appearance in 2024. The 6’4” lefty, a fifth-round selection in 2021 (under-slot $150k bonus), was a major pop-up prospect in 2023, going from High-A to the big leagues in what was basically his first professional season.
Justice was assigned to Triple-A Albuquerque to begin the season, where he was 2.5 years younger than league average. After seven rough appearances there (10 runs allowed on six hits and eight walks in just five innings), Justice went on the IL with a lower back injury that took him about two months to recover and rehab from. Upon his return to Albuquerque, Justice added back a sinker to his arsenal and allowed only one earned run in his seven June appearances with the Isotopes — but he still struggled with wildness, walking eight of the 29 batters he faced.
From June through the end of the Triple-A season in September, Justice was used infrequently and never for more than an inning at a time. He ended up with only 24 2⁄3 innings pitched across 32 games for Albuquerque with an unsightly 8.76 ERA (8.05 xFIP), 2.47 WHIP, 12.4 BB/9 rate, and 9.5 K/9 rate. Justice’s potential was enough for the Rockies to keep him on the 40-man roster despite those results, and he even got one brief outing with the big-league club, walking one batter and striking out another.
So with poor results like these, why are we talking about Justice in the PuRPs list? Well, he was completely dominant in the Arizona Fall League. When I say dominant, I mean he didn’t allow a single hit and only allowed two baserunners (1 BB, 1 HBP) in 8 2⁄3 innings while striking out 11. That’ll do.
Longenhagen slots Justice into the prospects of note section of his org writeup:
Justice is a nasty low-slot lefty with 20 control. He walked more than a batter per inning at Triple-A in 2024 but has a pretty tough tailing fastball/slider combo.
Justice may have late-inning relief upside, but it’s clear he needs to find the form that dominated the AFL consistently and banish the version of himself that walked more than a batter per inning. Either way, I expect Justice to make more of a big-league impact in 2025.
40. Blake Adams (11.5 points, 5 ballots) — the 24-year-old righty pitcher, who was Colorado’s 13th rounder in 2022 out of Kansas State, represents a success story for the organization. Adams has overcome the lower draft pick to be a standout starter for two years in a row. In 2024, he was assigned to High-A Spokane, where he was of league average age. In 18 games, Adams threw 101 innings with a 2.76 ERA (3.67 xFIP), 1.23 WHIP, 8.6 K/9 rate, and 2.0 BB/9 rate. With Spokane, Adams regularly worked six innings or more in games, include a six inning, 10 strikeout shutout start.
That was enough to earn Adams a promotion to Double-A Hartford (he was 1.5 years younger than league average), where he made another five starts. With Hartford, Adams had a rough first start but added two Quality Starts later on to finish with a line of a 3.46 ERA (2.54 xFIP), 1.15 WHIP, 10.0 K/9 rate, and 1.0 BB/9 rate in 26 innings. Those totals are more impressive than what he posted against High-A hitting, which is a positive sign that his stuff will translate in the upper minors.
Longenhagen lists Adams as a prospect of note:
Adams, 24, is a strike-throwing starter with a vertical fastball/curveball combo. He reached Double-A in 2024 and walked just 4.9% of his opponents in 127 innings.
I see Adams as an 35+ FV grade arm clearly able to soak up innings with good efficiency. I expect him to return to Hartford to begin 2025, but he could be a surprise contributor this year if his stuff continues to translate to the upper minors.
39. Braxton Fulford (12.4 points, 4 ballots) — the 26-year-old righty catcher was Colorado’s sixth rounder in 2021 out of Texas Tech, signing for a slightly below slot $280k. Fulford spent 2024 in Hartford as the primary backstop, where he was 1.4 years older than league average. The 5’10” catcher hit .242/.341/.412 with 10 HR among his 33 XBH in 379 PA, good for a 118 wRC+. Behind the plate, Fulford threw out 35% of base stealers with 12 errors and seven passed balls.
Longenhagen also lists Fulford as a prospect of note:
Fulford is a below-average defensive backstop and contact hitter with average power. The 26-year-old might be a third catcher.
Fulford, who I rate as a 35+ FV prospect, is firmly behind Jacob Stallings, Hunter Goodman, and Drew Romo (and probably Austin Nola) in Colorado’s minor-league catching hierarchy. He could start in Triple-A if both Romo and Goodman make the Opening Day roster, but might be relegated back to Double-A.
38. Andy Perez (18.6 points, 6 ballots) — the 20-year-old lefty hitting, righty throwing shortstop and third baseman is an international free agent out of Cuba, signing in 2021 for $300k. After two seasons in the DSL, Perez skipped the Complex League in 2023 and was assigned directly to Low-A Fresno, where he was overmatched by older pitching (63 wRC+).
In 2024, Perez was returned to Fresno, where he was still 1.1 years younger than league average, and his batting numbers progressed to a league-average level. In 478 PA, Perez’s .292/.326/.434 line with nine HR among his 38 XBH was worth 100 wRC+. Perez got a late season look with High-A Spokane as well, where he was 2.4 years younger than league average. There he again was below league average in 66 PA with a .226/.250/.323 line with a homer (54 wRC+).
The numbers aren’t super impressive, but Perez’s ability to hang in Low-A (and even a bit into High-A) in his age-20 season at a middle infield slot certainly is. Indeed, Perez was at shortstop for 84 games (15 errors), third base for 34 (five errors), and second base for five errorless games.
Perez is ranked by Longenhagen as the 22nd best in the system at a 40 FV grade:
Perez is a slow-burning, projectable, 6-foot-3 shortstop who makes terrific rates of contact despite an over-aggressive approach. In 2024, Perez repeated Low-A and found a new gear of power as he more than tripled his career home run total with 10 bombs on the year. Perez’s combination of a lanky build and physical projection is very exciting and atypical for someone who has maintained plus contact rates as a pro (91% in the zone and 82% overall in 2024). Though Perez is often late to the contact point and his chase is scary (40%, essentially 30-grade plate discipline), he has had bat-to-ball success despite his issues for each of his four pro seasons, and he makes a plus rate of contact outside the zone. He’s a great bender for an athlete his size, and so long as he adds arm strength as his frame fills out, which might also yield more power, he has a decent shot to remain at shortstop for the long haul. Much of Perez’s profile is still magmatic, but potentially viable shortstops with this kind of size and contact feel are uncommon. Perez is a good long-term prospect of rather extreme variance, with his right tail outcomes that of a regular shortstop.
Perez is the first player listed so far to have appeared on my own PuRPs ballot — he was 27th with a 40 FV grade. The emergence of power in the profile, when combined with the high contact rate and strong defensive utility, lead me to think that Perez could actually be more of an impact big leaguer than the others listed so far. I expect him to start back in Spokane this year, but I’m guessing the Rockies would like to look at him in the upper minors before they need to decide his Rule 5 protection status after the season.
37. Kelvin Hidalgo (22.5 points, 5 ballots) — the 19-year-old shortstop and third baseman is on the same path as Perez, just one stop behind him. Hidalgo was a 2022 international free agent from the Dominican Republic, signing for a $500k bonus. After two years in the DSL (he was the DSL MVP in 2023), Hidalgo was placed in the Arizona Complex League in 2024 (and was listed as a breakout prospect that spring by MLB.com), where he was 0.8 years younger than league average.
In 247 PA, the 6’1” infielder had a .288/.347/.365 line with 12 XBH and 18 steals (85 wRC+). After a month off, Hidalgo was added to Low-A Fresno’s roster (he was 2.1 years younger than league average) for the season’s stretch run. In eight games, he hit .281/.333/.406 with three extra base hits and three steals in 36 PA (96 wRC+). On defense, Hidalgo was primarily at shortstop (59 of 64 games, a step up in SS% vs. 2023), committing 14 errors there.
Hidalgo is highly thought of by Longenhagen, who graded him as a 40+ FV player, ranking him 18th in the system:
Hidalgo is a toolsy shortstop prospect with precocious power and potentially great defense. He had a monster 2023 season, his second in the DSL, where he slugged .574 and hit 12 homers, good for second in the league. His production was down the following year in Arizona — .288/.347/.365 — but Hidalgo was still one of just two hitters Colorado promoted from the complex to Fresno toward the end of the year (Robert Calaz was the other).
Hidalgo has all the physical talent needed for shortstop (especially the arm), but he’s currently unpolished and mistake-prone. He’s also big enough that it’s possible he’ll outgrow the position, but with that size comes exciting power projection. Hidalgo already has roughly average big league power and he’ll likely grow into more. He isn’t an especially skilled hitter — Hidalgo’s swing is long and imprecise, and isn’t anywhere near optimized to take advantage of his power. This is a risky prospect in a number of ways, but good shortstops with plus power are rare. Jose Barrero and Gabriel Arias represent outcomes with way too many strikeouts, while the Danny Espinosa and Tim Beckham window of production is more of Hidalgo’s median outcome.
Hidalgo presents a high ceiling profile due to the power potential and defensive utility — probably higher than Perez’s, but with a lower floor given a lower contact rate and being one level farther away. Hidalgo is a 40 FV player for me, slotting right ahead of Perez on my personal ballot at 26th overall. He’ll likely be Fresno’s everyday shortstop to begin 2025.
36. Warming Bernabel (23.1 points, 7 ballots) — the 6’2” 22-year-old righty-hitting third baseman, known for his hand-eye coordination and aggressive approach, was the mid-season number 29 PuRP. Bernabel was signed by the Rockies for $900k out of the Dominican Republic in July 2018. Bernabel entered 2023 with a 40-man roster spot and some top 100 hype after a strong 2022 season that saw him hit well across two levels of A-ball (129 wRC+ in Low-A, 118 in High-A).
Unfortunately, though, his 2022 ended after suffering a concussion in a freak-accident collision. Whether it was the concussion or another factor, Bernabel struggled mightily in 2023 in Double-A Hartford as one of the youngest players in the league (2.8 years younger than league average), slipping to a 66 wRC+. At the end of spring training in 2024, the Rockies designated Bernabel for assignment and the third baseman was outrighted back to Double-A, where he was still 1.6 years younger than league average.
In 506 PA with Hartford, Bernabel’s .263/.296/.359 line with nine homers among 27 extra base hits is a step up in every way from 2023, though his 88 wRC+ was still below league average. Bernabel’s 3.6% walk percentage was down slightly vs. 2023, though his 14% strikeout percentage was seven points better. Bernabel played mostly at third (13 errors in 97 games), though he has dabbled at first base as well (one error in 17 games).
Longenhagen listed Bernabel as a prospect of note:
The sweet-swinging Bernabel’s lack of plate discipline was exposed as he climbed the minors. He was removed from Colorado’s 40-man before last season, then had a bad year at Hartford.
Keith Law of the Athletic ranked Bernabel 12th in the system last February:
Before [Bernabel’s concussion], he’d shown excellent hand-eye coordination with 55 power and the ability to catch up to good fastballs, needing work on pitch recognition and chasing a little more than you’d like. He’s in this spot because I’m hoping that he just needs more time to recover from the concussion to get back to where he was before the collision, a potential above-average regular at third who hit for average with a bunch of doubles and played solid-average defense.
MLB.com ranked Bernabel 24th in the system as a 40 FV player at mid-season:
Bernabel has some intriguing offensive traits. His knack for finding the barrel can be a blessing and a curse. He makes a ton of contact, and even in his down year, he managed his strikeouts well. But he’s often too aggressive and registered a 40 percent chase rate in 2023. There’s hope that a middle ground can be found where he develops a better overall approach without losing his ability to do damage early in counts. Some improvements in terms of pitch recognition would help him tap into the raw power he has displayed at times.
Signed as a shortstop, Bernabel has been a third baseman-only in the pro game. His hands work at the hot corner, but he’s going to have to stay on top of his conditioning, especially with his lower half, in order to stay there.
Clearly, Bernabel has seen his fortunes sour with both the Rockies and scouts, due in part to injuries and perhaps a bit due to hitting an upper-minors wall. He hasn’t shown his 2022 form with any consistency for two seasons and he’s now going to have to fight his way back onto the 40-man roster (not to mention the fight for playing time at the corner infield positions that will be needed).
If Bernabel can find that golden hit tool that got him top 100 consideration, he could be a factor at the big league level as soon as this season, especially if he can lay off a few more out of the zone pitches. That was too big an if for me to rank Bernabel on my list — I have him as a 35+ FV player.
★ ★ ★
Next time, we’ll reveal the Honorable Mention PuRPs for pre-season 2025!