Colorado Rockies news and links for Wednesday, March 26, 2025
As we approach Opening Day for the 2025 season, the Colorado Rockies will officially announce their roster sometime before their game against Tampa Bay on Friday.
The roster became a highly debated topic over the past weekend because of a sequence of moves that revealed the Rockies plans of who they would begin the season with.
Heading into camp, the team had made it clear that the youth would get an opportunity to showcase their talents. In the early days of spring training, the majority of excitement and even a good number of victories came on the backs of the prospects. It wasn’t expected that players like Gabriel Hughes and Kyle Karros would crack the roster, but their presence was enough to excite fans about the prospects of their futures with the team, hopefully in the near future.
However, there were a couple of prospects earnestly making a bid for a spot on the Opening Day to make their big league debut. 2023 first-round pick Chase Dollander looked to try and impress the top brass on the mound. While Dollander certainly made strides and good impressions, it was clear that he wasn’t quite ready out of the gate. The inexperience after just one professional season was quite evident, but the flashes of brilliance proved that he would be on the roster early in 2025 if he came out of the gate strong.
Reliever Zach Agnos hung around late into camp hoping to join an influx of young relievers the Rockies saw arrive late in the season last year. The young right-handed showed well in camp but was ultimately re-assigned to the minors because of the crowded bullpen picture already. Still, there is a strong likelihood he will appear sooner than later if he performs well in Triple-A Albuquerque.
That left outfielder Zac Veen, who was named the recipient of the Abby Greer Award which the Rockies hand out to the MVP of spring training from a development standpoint. Veen was ultimately optioned to Triple-A on Sunday as the Rockies selected the contract of veteran Nick Martini while also choosing to carry Sean Bouchard and Sam Hilliard on the roster.
“We have young guys who are talented, so now we’ll see who’s close and who needs more time,” Bill Schmidt said to The Denver Post at the start of spring training. “Even though you don’t necessarily have to make the team out of spring training, that doesn’t mean that in a month or two some of (the young players) aren’t ready to come (back up). The young talent gives us hope; now we’ll see where they are at.”
Fans have been understandably upset about the Rockies’ decisions with these players, specifically Veen. The 2020 first-round pick had a strong spring training, going 17-for-63 with two home runs, a triple, four doubles, and 11 RBI. He also had an .812 OPS and swiped nine bases. Yes, he did strike out 21 times while walking seven times, but there was growth for the young player.
Still, the Rockies thought he need to gain more maturity in the minors.
“He will go to Triple-A to hone his skills,” manager Bud Black said. “Zac hit .220 in Triple-A, and there are still some things he needs to focus on.
“The strikeout rate was a little high here (29.6%) facing major league pitchers in Arizona. Zac realizes that (there’s) probably a little more time needed in the minors before he potentially gets an opportunity. Hopefully, he’ll force that by how he plays.”
The discourse concerning Veen was sparked by the shocking trade of Nolan Jones to the Cleveland Guardians for utility player Tyler Freeman last Saturday. Evan Lang covered this situation on Monday, raising concerns that this type of move puts the team’s youth movement in question.
The funny thing is, it’s not the first time the Rockies have done this. Rather, it’s par for the course when it comes to the top brass at 20th and Blake.
A common thread for the Rockies since at least 2017 has been the conflict between underperforming veterans and prospects unable to crack through for playing time.
Back in 2018, in the middle of their playoff push, general manager Jeff Bridich talked to ESPN about their approach to filling second base if/when D.J. LeMahieu became a free agent at season’s end.
“We’re taking things step by step, because you never know what can happen. We very much believe in the abilities of [Brendan Rodgers and Garrett Hampson] and even more guys in our system. But we’re not in the business of gifting opportunities to young players just because they happen to be in the organization. They have to earn it.”
Our own Samantha Bradfield followed up with Bridich to clarify his comments,
“It’s really more of a comment on how we operate. Just because you’re young and you’re talented, there’s always certain things that need to be done, whether it’s a position player or a pitcher in order to make sure that you show everybody that you’re ready to take on the responsibility of not just playing at the major league level, but winning games at the major league level and contributing to that group effort.”
Black added his thoughts to the Rockies’ approach back then saying,
“I think there are steps to be taken — being put on the 40 man roster, being in big league camp, becoming accustomed to the big league setting, all those things come into play. How they mentally and emotionally handle a big league game, a big league setting, conversations with them…there’s a lot of indicators that tell you when it’s their time.”
More or less, it’s a long process in the eyes of the Rockies. Very rarely does a prospect crack the big league roster out of spring training without any big league service time. Dating back to 2014, I counted just eight players that cracked the Opening Day roster without previous big league time. Of those eight, six are pitchers including two Rule-5 picks, with Tony Wolters and Trevor Story making the 2016 roster. Kyle Freeland and Antonio Senzatela are the only active players from the list on the 2025 roster.
The Rockies seem to treat the development process as a series of boxes to check before a player can be deemed ready. Jordan Beck could have broke camp with the team last season but was instead sent to Triple-A for a month before getting called up at the end of April.
The moves and decisions over the last week have understandably been lambasted by fans and the greater baseball media landscape. There are arguments to justify the moves, but they are still flawed and the frustrations run deeper than just the desire to have a prospect on the roster.
At the end of the day, it comes down to the fact that the Rockies continue to show their true face as a team stuck in their ways.
After six straight losing seasons, including the first 100 loss seasons in franchise history, there was hope that the Rockies would embrace some sort of change, some adjustment to their philosophy to their process in 2025.
Instead, they traded away their starting left fielder for a utility infielder with a career .223 AVG and added a new version of Jake Cave.
The Rockies have shown the ability to embrace the youth, such as in the bullpen, but when it comes to position players they are hesitant and perhaps too cautious. Veen definitely needs to work on things, especially when it comes to facing major league pitchers, but wouldn’t he be better served facing major league pitchers regularly instead of the mixed bag that is Triple-A pitching?
Like many of you I was upset seeing the roster moves at the end of spring training. As I have thought about it over the last few days, I found that I was not surprised by the moves though. This is a team that preaches youth and development, yet doesn’t follow through. They will talk the talk and say the right things to give us hope and pay attention, but fail to walk the walk when the spotlight is on them.
While I certainly wish the best of luck to players like Martini, his presence, like so many others before him, is just the Rockies’ efforts to continuously kick the can down the road. As a fan and a writer, I’m tired of hearing about the future and the potential of players and how much they still need to learn in the minors to hopefully get a chance. It’s one thing to praise a prospect’s tools and another to let him go out and show what he can do for better or for worse.
The Rockies could benefit from a little urgency.
Across the league, we see teams taking a gamble on young prospects. The Los Angeles Angels are giving 2024 second-round reliever Ryan Johnson a spot despite not throwing a single pitch in the minors. The Chicago Cubs are giving 2023 first-round pick Matt Shaw regular time at third base after he made his debut in Tokyo last week. The Houston Astros are going to carry their number one prospect Cam Smith (the 2024 draft pick acquired from the Cubs in the Kyle Tucker trade).
Are these decisions by these clubs wise ones? Only time will tell, but it shows faith in the talent they’ve acquired and to see if they learn on the job.
When two paths diverge, the Rockies seemingly keep taking the easier, familiar left rather than the untested potential of the harder right.
If some of these prospects are going to be potentially ready in a month, why not try to jumpstart the process now?
What do the Rockies truly have to lose in 2025 by playing the most young guys possible?
At some point the process has to start yielding results, otherwise it’s time to change methods.
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‘I don’t take opportunities for granted’: Martini reflects on making roster | MLB.com
Martini reflects on the Rockies decision to add him to the Opening Day roster.
Affected by Altitude Episode 157: Jonesing for Change | Rocky Mountain Rooftop
Evan Lang and I got a little heated expressing our thoughts about the moves from the weekend. Check the new episode of Affected by Altitude, available every Monday on your favorite podcasting platforms along with YouTube video versions.
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