Strike 1: Right from the start, the 2025 Major League Baseball season was rendered almost meaningless, in terms of the Colorado Rockies fielding a competitive team. At this point, all that’s left to be determined is whether or not they’ll break the record for most losses in a single season.
The only consistent thing about this year’s Rockies (besides losing) has been multiple coaching changes and roster moves. Band-aid fixes that haven’t stopped the bleeding.
Aside from the obvious problems of underdeveloped youth, injuries and a general malaise surrounding the entire organization, the Rockies have a deeper problem. It’s not a lack of baseball talent. There are numerous high draft picks with plenty of ability taking the field in purple pinstripes. Even the fringe guys they’ve acquired, like Kyle Farmer, Tyler Freeman, Orlando Arcia and Thairo Estrada all have big league talent and have been part of teams that performed at a much higher level.
A simple fact is that this core group of young players does not know how to win.
For the most part, the Rockies have gotten more competitive of late, but they still lack the ability and savvy needed to close the deal. That does not come from simply playing more games and gaining more experience if all you’re doing is learning is how to lose.
Yet thus far, that seems to be the plan. The only plan.
The definition of insanity.
What if the Rockies brass, aware of the impending history that’s unfolding in front of them, decided they didn’t want to make their group of highly touted prospects part of the Titanic when it hits the iceberg? What if there was a lifeboat available for the likes of Chase Dollander, Jordan Beck, Hunter Goodman and Ryan Ritter?
Actually, there is. It’s just a few hours south down I-25 in Albuquerque.
Why make them own this? Why not do something that’s right, even though it would be both bold and highly unpopular? Why not send them all back down to Triple-A? Not for more individual “seasoning,” but as a group that could return to the minor leagues, play together and learn how to win together.
There was a time when teams would leave players in the minor leagues until they proved they could dominate that level of competition. Guys didn’t get called up after just a few standout performances just to please some local fans and media. The justification is always that they can “gain valuable experience” by being thrown out there to sink or swim. But is the experience of losing in historical fashion really worth learning?
How good could the Albuquerque Isotopes/future Colorado Rockies be with a lineup that included Beck, Zac Veen and Yanquiel Fernández in the outfield, Ritter, Adael Amador and Michael Toglia in the infield, Goodman behind the plate and pitchers like Dollander, Carson Palmquist, Seth Halvorsen, Bradley Blalock, Tanner Gordon, Victor Vodnick and Zach Agnos?
That team could win the Pacific Coast League title, and in the process learn what it means to consistently outperform the competition when it matters the most.
Meanwhile, the Rockies could field of a team that still included young standouts Ezequiel Tovar and Brenton Doyle (their performances to date, including Gold Glove awards, have eliminated them from the minor league scheme) plus vets like Farmer, Arcia Estrada, Freeman, Mickey Moniak, Ryan McMahon and Sam Hilliard. Pitchers could still be Kyle Freeland, German Marquez, Antonio Senzatela, Ryan Feltner (when healthy), Tyler Kinley and Jake Bird (the Rockie who should be an All-Star and then get traded) and whatever other inexpensive vets they could find.
What would change in the National League standings?
Not much if anything, actually. The Rockies would most certainly remain on their current trajectory, hurtling towards that all-time losses record, while their young players would be A: shielded from the ignominy and B: learning how it actually feels like to win consistently.
As far as fan interest/ticket sales, that wouldn’t change much either, especially when the biggest draws this summer will continue to be the opposing team and their fans.
The Rockies did something similar to this two decades ago, when they left the core of “Generation R” down in the minors as a group for the most part, until they were truly ready to rumble. After struggling at 20th and Blake with players like Jeremy Burnitz taking the at bats, when the young core finally joined Todd Helton (remember Todd and the Toddlers?) and they began the ascent that resulted in the only World Series appearance in franchise history.
That should be the only kind of history the organization wants their young players to be a part of.
Strike 1: The Colorado Rockies core needs to learn how to win in Triple-A Mile High Sports.
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