Louis Taggart | @LTtalksfootball | February 14, 2024

This past month saw most national baseball outlets release their first 2024 prospect rankings. One thing that stuck out like a sore thumb was the blatant disrespect to Adael Amador, who is the consensus top Rockies prospect. Let me take this time and remind everyone why you should never count Adael Amador out. 

This is why you should root for Adael Amador

The Rise

The one thing the Rockies do well is finding gems during international free agency, so when they dished out 1.5 million dollars on a middle infielder, it got fans excited. Adael Amador was considered a high average hitter who will work counts and earn walks. The power part of his game was always a question, as it always will be with teenagers. 

Big July 2 signing for the Rockies is Adael Amador.

Won a gold medal as the starting SS for the Dominican Republic in the 15U Pan Ams.

Their updated J2 class: https://t.co/S1PzLw56au pic.twitter.com/eXvcapyWZ1

— Ben Badler (@BenBadler) July 2, 2019

Due to some minor circumstances happening in the world, he was unable to make his professional debut in 2020. The next season saw him play 47 games in the Arizona Complex League. This stint saw him get on base at a near 40% rate and also showed some power potential with four home runs. A 2019 signing only playing 47 games heading into the 2022 season was cause for worry, but he would let everyone know he was the real deal in 2022. 

Remember The Name

2022 was the first season Amador could just go and play baseball all day every day. This put his talent on the map and national media outlets began to notice. He had 20 more walks than strikeouts, no, you’re not reading that wrong. Pair this with 15 home runs and 26 stolen bases, he was officially on the map. 

Before 2022, the highest he was ever ranked as a Rockies prospect was 8th by Fangraphs (which was in 2021, he fell to 15th before the 2022 season). After this 2022 campaign, he became the frontman for the Rockies future as he leap frogged Zac Veen for the top prospect. Within one season, he went from someone with little weight on his shoulders to being counted on as a future cornerstone of this team. 

All of this is cool, but allow me to share a quote that Stephan Rice (@ricecakes20) a member of the Grizzlies front office and now their play by play man, told me. I asked just to give me a cool Amador story since he was in the same building and he said 

        “So Amador came in early one morning to the field to get work in. He was wearing a “swag” outfit and a couple coaches and players were ragging on him about his attire. And one player said, “where did you go, Walmart?” Amador didn’t know what it was, but he said in broken English, “it doesn’t matter where I go, I’m going to do it in style.” That’s how I describe his play, Swag and Stylish. Flare and clean.”

Rice followed it up by saying “He’s just an amazing dude. Always smiling, so happy.” 

I agree, this definitely showed when I would briefly catch one of his starts in Hartford last season. I challenge you right now to look up Adael Amador and go to the images. He’s smiling in every single one. 

The Now 

This past interaction in the Adael Amador story kept his development going into the right direction. His OPS is the highest it’s been in his career, and he is seeing the ball like no other player in baseball, recording a 13% strikeout rate. 

So why is he falling down prospect rankings?

The truth is a bit of prospect fatigue mixed with a couple of months of injuries. Prospect fatigue happens when the national media wants to discuss new guys to make their shows more exciting. It happens, but it’s just bulletin board material. 

A perfect example of prospect fatigue is Keith Law, who had him ranked as the 44th prospect in all of baseball just to pivot to leaving him out of his top 100 entirely a couple of weeks ago. Between those two rankings, Amador played just 10 games outside of rookie ball rehab assignments. Keith Law dropped Amador 50+ spots in a span where he only played 10 games. Unreal. 

Thompson in at 70. Dollander at 75. And Yanquiel at 82. That’s it.

No real explanation other than the ‘23 draft class was great and some graduations from last year.

But if you leave Amador off the Top 100, it’s hard to take this seriously. https://t.co/un1e9id7lz

— Blake Street Banter ⚾🌮 (@blakestbanter) February 5, 2024

The injury is definitely worrisome, but there was always a higher chance of him getting bagged up at some point compared to staying healthy throughout his career. Good news is after researching three studies posted by the National Library of Medicine (the things I do for this 100 loss baseball team), the conclusions are that after the surgery players go back to playing like they did prior with little lingering effects. Source one ,two,and three

What’s Next

Amador is still a household name who will wear purple one day. This season he will start in Hartford where he will face the gauntlet that is the Eastern League. I believe in Amador more than I ever had with any other prospect before. His bat to ball skills make his floor extremely high and will be a much-needed change of pace for the Rockies when he is called up.

ICYMI