Colorado Rockies news and links for Monday, October 14th, 2024
The Low-A Fresno Grizzlies put together a season to be proud under second year manager Steve Soliz. The Grizzlies had a winning first half at 38-27 and a winning record overall at 67-64. Unfortunately they were unable to clinch a playoff spot. The Grizzlies finished 3.5 games behind the Modesto Nuts (Seattle Mariners) to finish the first half, and with a 29-37 record in the second half they fell just short of a playoff spot to a resurgent San Jose Giants (San Francisco Giants).
Over the last few seasons the Rockies’ farm system has been fairly bottom heavy with much of the talent focused at the Low-A and High-A levels.. This has started to change as the top prospects begin to climb up to higher levels of play. However, because of this the Grizzlies lacked some of that organizational star power exhibited on the higher level teams. Fresno started the 2024 campaign with just two members of our Purple Row pre-season PuRPs rankings on their roster in right-handed reliever Jake Madden (no. 24 pre-season PuRP) and right-handed starting pitcher Jack Mahoney (no. 28 pre-season PuRP).
Mahoney was promoted to High-A Spokane mid-season, but the Grizzlies did receive some prospect reinforcements. Arizona Complex League MVP Robert Calaz (no. 8 PuRP) and 2024 second round draft pick Jared Thomas (no. 20 PuRP) joined the squad in the second half as they tried to make a playoff push but fell just short.
Although they missed the playoffs and didn’t have as many ranked prospects in their midst, the Fresno Grizzlies had multiple standout players given post-season honors.
22-year-old right-handed starting pitcher Jace Kaminska was named an All-Star and California League Pitcher of the Year for his sterling season in the Grizzlies’ rotation. Kaminska—drafted in 2023 out of the University of Nebraska—made 17 starts in 2024 while posting an ERA of just 2.78 and a WHIP of 1.05 over 87 1⁄3 innings of work. While his season unfortunately ended early due to injury, he still finished year no. 8 in the California league for strikeouts with 104 and walked only 12 batters—the best strikeout to walk ratio in the league.
20-year-old left-handed reliever Welinton Herrera was promoted to the High-A Spokane Indians after the first half of the season, but shone incredibly brightly during his time with the Grizzlies to earn All-Star and Reliever of the Year honors.
Herrera started his 2024 campaign with nine straight outings without walking a batter. Herrera also had an early season streak of 13 outings over 19 innings without yielding a home run. During that streak he struck out 34 batters. In 34 innings with Fresno he struck out 64 total batters to just nine walks, posted an ERA of just 2.38, gave up only one home run, and accumulated eight pitcher wins as a reliever.
The Grizzlies’ key position player this year was 23-year-old Braylen Wimmer, drafted in the eighth round last year out of the University of North Carolina. Wimmer is the son of career minor leaguer Chris Wimmer—also an eighth round draft pick in 1992—who spent seven professional seasons with the San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago Cubs, and Pittsburgh Pirates organizations.
Wimmer was drafted as a shortstop, but also played a substantial amount of time at third base for the Grizzlies. His true value came at the plate, where he finished as one of the top qualified batters in the California league across ten different offensive categories to earn a post-season All-Star nod. Wimmer hit .285/.362/.435 in 118 games with the Grizzlies, leading the league in runs with 94, tied for the most total hits with 131, and tied the second-most home runs in the league with 14. His .285 batting average was tied for third-best in the California League and he also finished the season in a three-way tie for seventh most RsBI with teammates Felix Tena and Andy Perez at 64 each.
Other Grizzlies players of note include center fielder Caleb Hobson, a 2023 draft pick that led the California League in stolen bases with 46 and tied for second-most runs scored at 79 behind his teammate Braylen Wimmer. Robert Calaz hit .327/.386/.571 in 13 games with the Grizzlies, though he battled injuries after his call-up, and Jared Thomas went 11-for-36 after joining the team with two home runs.
On the pitching side of things, left-handed reliever Sam Weatherly returned from Tommy John surgery last season to make 30 appearances with the Grizzlies with a 2.85 ERA and 51 strikeouts over 41 innings before being promoted to play a key role in the Spokane Indians’ championship run. Previously mentioned prospect Jake Madden posted a 3.89 ERA over 28 appearances and 44 innings of work with 51 strikeouts. Stu Flesland III spent most of the season coming out of the bullpen before converting back to a starter for the final seven of his 32 total appearances. Flesland finished the year with a 3.91 ERA and 70 strikeouts over 71 1⁄3 innings and will likely continue his work as a starter next season.
The Low-A Fresno Grizzlies quietly put together a very strong season with multiple standout players. Now as the Grizzlies go into hibernation until 2025, they can at least be proud of a job well done.
★ ★ ★
Arizona Fall League
Salt River Rafters 14, Surprise Saguaros 1 (Saturday, October 12th)
The Rafters crushed the Saguaros to start the weekend on Saturday, scoring 14 runs on 14 hits. Each Rockies prospect in Jose Cordova, Ryan Ritter, and Skyler Messinger had at least one hit during the game. Ritter scored twice while Messinger went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Michael Prosecky pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts while Evan Justice struck out two batters in one scoreless frame. McCade Brown pitched one inning and gave up one earned run on one walk and one hit while striking out one batter.
★ ★ ★
Colorado Rockies’ Top 10 prospects after 2024 season | Denver Post ($)
Kyle Newman of the Denver Post ranks the Rockies’ prospects after the end of the 2024 season. Surprising no one, the introductory one-two punch is top pitching prospect Chase Dollander and 2024 first round pick Charlie Condon. Newman ranks three other pitchers in his top ten with Brody Brecht, Sean Sullivan, and Carson Pamquist. On the other side of the ball he includes Zac Veen, Adael Amador, Cole Carrigg, Yanquiel Fernandez, and Ryan Ritter.
★ ★ ★
Please keep in mind our Purple Row Community Guidelines when you’re commenting. Thanks!