Colorado Rockies minor league report for Tuesday, February 18th, 2025
Welcome to the triumphant return of the Weekly Pebble Report for the 2025 season, your weekly Colorado Rockies minor league update here on Purple Row!
Actual baseball is tantalizingly close, as pitchers and catchers reported for duty last week, and the full squad should have reported by the end of today. Sixty-three players—the Rockies’ 40-man roster and 23 non-roster invitees—are at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick to prepare for the upcoming season, many of them hoping to crack the 26-man roster for Opening Day.
Recently I introduced you to the ten pitchers at Rockies camp on non-roster invites. It’s now time to meet the 13 position players joining them this spring, starting with the catchers and veteran infielders.
Catchers
The Rockies invited four catchers to camp on non-roster invites. However, it’s unlikely any of them will make the Opening Day roster. Three of the four haven’t played above Double-A, with Austin Nola as the only member of the group with big league service time.
Nola, 35, has spent five big league seasons with both the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres while hitting .249/.326/.370 during his career. In 2023 he struggled through 52 games with the Padres, hitting just .146/.260/.192 in 130 at-bats before spending all of 2024 in the Kansas City Royals farm system. He carried a .558 OPS and hit five home runs over 55 games with the Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers. Nola also has some utility potential, as he has MLB experience at first, second, and third base.
Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images
26-year-old Braxton Fulford (no. 39 PuRP) is the oldest and most advanced of the three prospect catchers on non-roster invites. Fulford hit .242/.341/.412 with 10 home runs in 2024, spending the entire season with the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats as their primary catcher. Defensively, he had seven passed balls and 12 errors while throwing out 35% of would-be base stealers. His most likely landing spot in 2025 is with the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes, but that could change depending on injuries and if the Rockies decide to carry three catchers—Jacob Stallings, Hunter Goodman, and Drew Romo—on their Opening Day roster.
Photo by David Durochik/Diamond Images via Getty Images
Signed out of Venezuela as part of the Rockies’ 2017 international class, Ronaiker Palma now has six professional seasons under his belt. Palma spent the 2024 season behind Braxton Fulford in Double-A Hartford, hitting .242/.348/.281 in 178 at-bats. Palma doesn’t have much pop in his bat—having hit just seven home runs in his minor league career—but he is the most defensively sound of the non-roster invitees. Palma had just two passed balls and five errors behind the plate while throwing out 40.7% of base stealers.
Photo by Brandon Sloter/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The youngest of the bunch is 21-year-old Bryant Betancourt (PuRP HM), who spent 2024 with the High-A Spokane Indians. Signed out of Venezuela as part of the 2021 international class, Betancourt had 65 games behind the plate with the Indians. He also had plenty of reps at first base and as a designated hitter through 110 total games played. His defense needs work—with nine passed balls, 11 errors, and a 31% caught stealing rate—but there’s some potential in his bat. In 433 plate appearances Betancourt hit .238/.316/.376 with 26 extra base hits, 12 of which went over the fence.
Infielders and Utility
The Rockies invited five infielders and one designated utility-man to spring training this year. Three players are veterans with big league experience, while the other three are prospects—including two of the organization’s top names.
Nick Martini, Keston Hiura, and Owen Miller represent the veteran presence in the position group. Martini, a 34-year-old journeyman, has spent time with the Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, and most recently the Cincinnati Reds. He hit .212/.272/.370 with five home runs, four doubles, and two triples in 52 games with the Reds in 2024.
It’s curious that Martini is designated as an infielder on the non-roster list, as he has spent the bulk of his career—both major and minor—as an outfielder. Martini has logged just nine big league innings at first base during his career with no other infield experience. With the Rockies’ history of plugging in non-first baseman at first base, hopefully this is not an ominous portent of things to come.
Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
Hiura—a former ninth-overall pick of the Milwaukee Brewers—has struggled to establish himself as a big leaguer despite his draft pedigree. Hiura has hit .238/.318/.453 over parts of four MLB seasons, but has an tough to swallow 36% career strikeout rate.
Since being designated for assignment in 2023, Hiura has bounced to both the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels organizations, but only logged ten big league appearances in 2024.
Hiura has struggled defensively throughout his career. Initially a second baseman, he’s worth a career -17 defensive runs saved at his native position. The Brewers tried moving him to both first base and left field with mixed results in small sample sizes.
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
The Rockies traded for utilityman Owen Miller from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for cash considerations early in the off-season. Although he primarily plays first and second base, he is capable of playing all infield positions as well as corner outfield. His true value alongside his defensive skillset is his speed. Miller clocked a 29 feet per second sprint speed in 2023.
In parts of four big-league seasons with the Brewers, San Diego Padres, and Cleveland Guardians, Miller has hit .239/.287/.345 with 15 home runs, 99 RBI, and 17 stolen bases. However, he appeared in just 14 MLB games with Milwaukee last year with a .185/.185/.222 line in 27 at-bats.
Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images
In the next installment, we’ll wrap up the non-roster invitees list with the prospect infielders and outfielders!
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