Colorado Rockies Prospects To Know

You are reading the free version of the Colorado Rockies Top Prospects. In this version, you will get the full writeups on the top prospect in the system, the biggest sleeper, and a player I could see breaking out in 2025.

In this edition, you will see what I offer in the full team reports. For every farm system, you will get my top 50 ranked players and detailed reports on the top 30. Each report includes advanced player data, traditional scouting thoughts from live and video looks, plus thoughts from scouts around the league.

Let’s dive in on what you get in the full report!

Glossary:

FFG = Future Fantasy Grade - essentially, what is the likely long-term outcome for the prospect? This is always going to be more conservative. Handing out ace tags is not something I like to do. So, this is a realistic outcome.

90th Peak = If the player hits their best-case outcome, what does it look like?

Variance = How risky is this player’s profile, and how likely are they to hit their likely outcome? Low variance is good; high means more risky.

Format for report: Name/Position/Age on 2025 Opening Day/Height/Weight/Highest Level

Colorado Rockies Top Prospects to Know

Top Overall Prospect

1. Chase Dollander, RHP, 23, 6’2”/200, AA

Dollander established himself as one of the top pitching prospects in baseball this year. This is probably no surprise if you followed him throughout his college career at Tennessee. One of the best pitchers in the country entering his draft year, Dollander did show some struggles, but the Rockies did not shy away from taking ninth overall in 2023.

Splitting time between High-A and Double-A this year, Dollander pitched 118 innings, posting a 2.59 ERA with 169 strikeouts and 47 walks. The FIP was quite impressive, as well, having a 2.92 mark while striking out 34 percent of batters and walking nine percent of hitters faced.

Dollander’s fastball is a true 70- grade offering. Among pitchers who threw 500 fastballs in the minors, only four had a swinging strike rate of 20 percent of higher, Dollander was one of them. He threw 1200 fastballs, generating a 21 percent swinging strike rate. It sat between 96 and 97, regularly touching triple digits. It comes in with an insanely flat -4 VAA with 16 inches of IVB from a 5’5” release height. Not to mention the pitch gets good arm-side movement, north of ten inches, often with strong location.

The curveball showed high spin and a beautiful two-plane break, missing bats at a high rate, sitting in the upper 70s. Dollander also works as a slider/cutter that sits around 88 mph but can touch 90. Dollander’s changeup is very underrated and plays very well against left-handed hitters, showing up to 20 inches of horizontal fade.

With a deep arsenal of pitches, Dollander also throws strikes at an above-average clip. Dollander has all the ingredients to be the best pitcher the Rockies have seen in a long time. He has the stuff to beat Coors Field.

FFG: High-End SP2

90th Percentile Peak Outcome: 180 IP/3.30 ERA/230 K

Variance: Medium

Buy/Sell: Buy

Rockies Sleeper Prospect

9. Jordy Vargas, RHP, 21, 6’3”/153, A

Vargas did not pitch in 2024 after his 2023 season ended early when he sustained an elbow injury that needed Tommy John Surgery. In his first full year in Single-A, Vargas showed some positives, posting a 4.22 ERA across 64 innings, averaging nearly five innings per start. He struck out 26 percent of hitters faced.

The fastball sits between 93-96, topping out at 98 with good arm-side movement. The pitch gets above-average IVB. The curveball is his most used secondary and probably the best pitch in his arsenal as it sits in the mid-to-upper 70s with big two-plane break, having a ton of downward movement. The curve missed bats at an impressive rate north of 50 percent last year and is capable of getting whiffs in and out of the zone.

The changeup is a strong third offering, sitting in the low-to-mid 80s and having late fading action. It would not surprise me to see the fastball and curve both be plus and if you pair that with an average changeup, you have a strong arsenal.

Coming back from Tommy John, there may be some bumps in the road, especially with command early on, but the upside is there with Vargas, who still has a ton of projection on his frame and plenty to like with his arsenal.

FFG: Backend SP

90th Percentile Peak Outcome: 120 IP/3.80 ERA/125 K

Variance: High

Buy/Sell: Buy Low

Colorado Breakout Prospect for 2025

20. Alessander De La Cruz, OF, 19, 6’1”/208, DSL

De La Cruz was a DSL prospect I kept my eye on all season as he consistently put up good numbers and never really got much love. In 212 plate appearances, De La Cruz slashed .318/.406/.542 with seven home runs, 24 extra-base hits, and 13 stolen bases.

A former $650k bonus recipient in 2023, De La Cruz repeated the DSL, which might raise some red flags to some but is not all that uncommon. While being listed at 208 lb, De La Cruz still has plenty of room to fill out his frame. Having long legs, he utilizes a big leg kick and has strong bat speed with a slight upper-cut swing.

The power gains were real this year as De La Cruz posted a 90th percentile exit velocity near 107 mph, which is highly impressive for an 18-year-old. After striking out in 34 percent of plate appearances, he cut that to just 19 percent in 2024 thanks to his 83 percent zone-contact rate and 72 percent overall mark. He posted respectable chase rates as well, but seeing how the approach plays stateside will be more telling.

Given the underlying data, there is a lot to like in De La Cruz’s profile, and he has the chance to really see his stock soar in 2025.

FFG: Upside Power Bat

90th Percentile Peak Outcome: .260/.330/25 HR/5 SB

Variance: High

Buy/Sell: Buy

Thanks for stopping by! You can check out the full top 50 prospects with reports on the top 30 here: