The Colorado Rockies prospects are champions of the Arizona Fall League with the Salt River Rafters–including Diamondbacks, Rockies, Twins, Yankees, and Nationals prospects coming together to win the chip.
The Arizona Fall League is fun and loaded with prospect talent: Moises Ballesteros (MLB #44 Prospect), Tommy Troy (DBacks #5 Prospect), Nick Kurtz (MLB #45), and Jac Caglianone (MLB #17) all played just to name a few.
The stats from the 20-ish games each prospect plays shouldn’t hold much weight–unless your guy goes off, of course–but often AZFL momentum carries into the following season. Most players are in the Arizona Fall League to get extra work, usually coming off an injury (Gabriel Hughes) or to work on something new (Evan Justice’s new arm slot).
For more insight, Thomas Harding was able to talk to Chris Forbes about the Arizona Fall League prospects.
The Colorado Rockies were able to send 9 players for the season. It was a mixed bag of top prospects, rising players who had solid 2024 seasons, and some rehabbing prospects. Here is how each fared.
Hitters
Ryan Ritter
AZFL Stats: .150/.477/.350 (.827 OPS), 2 HR, 2 2B, 3 SB, 18 BB, 19 K
The Kentucky baseball product missed roughly 40 games during the regular season after a tough slide took him out while trying to turn a double play. After the injury, Ritter slashed .179/.270/.250 in 15 games. Those numbers are nowhere near the numbers he put up before the injury.
The Rockies brass deemed it worth everyone’s time that Ritter get a few more at-bats before the off-season, and some extra work at second base, which he hadn’t played since his time in Fresno, early 2023.
Ritter’s batting average wasn’t pretty at .150, but the OPS was. The .827 mark was 5th for the Rafters, behind Tommy Troy and Robert Hassell. He was able to keep his BB/K ratio near 1 (18 BB/19 K) while also going 100% in stolen bases (3-3).
The improved plate discipline numbers appear to be a concerted effort as Ritter looks to be a more complete hitter. Expect Ritter to start as an Isotope with time spent across short and second as he works to make his MLB debut in 2025.
Juan Guerrero
Stats: .208/.241/.472 (.713 OPS), 4 HR, 7 2B, 3 SB, 3 BB, 20 K
Get to know the Juan and only here: Juan Guerrero Player Profile. The 23-year-old just can’t get enough baseball! He went straight to the Dominican Winter League after his time in Arizona. Guerrero ended the ’24 season in Hartford after 91 games in High-A Spokane with a .739 OPS on the season.
Guerrero showed some pop in Arizona with 4 homers–he had just 6 in all of ’24–and 7 doubles for a SLG of .472. Guerrero has always been a free-swinger and that did not change this fall, only walking 3 times in 19 games.
Expect Juan Guerrero to start in Hartford as the Rockies work through a AAA/MLB outfield problem.
Skyler Messinger
Stats: .299/.343/.358 (.701 OPS), 1 HR, 5 BB, 22 K
A Colorado native prospect, Skyler Messinger was able to go hit in the Fall League. Spending most of his time as the DH (20 games), but also getting run at 3B and 1B, Messinger needed some extra work after missing the first two months of the 2024 season following shoulder surgery.
The 2022 19th-round pick has had solid professional numbers (.779 career MiLB OPS) proving that the Rockies just might have found a hidden Boulder-gem with a shot to eventually crack an MLB roster.
Messinger’s 12 RBI were 7th on the team. He had 20 hits, 1 2B and 1 HR but he was clutch in the Championship game where he went 1-3 with a double, 2 walks and 2 runs, including the tying and game winning runs. It is hard not to root for a guy like Skyler. Hartford is going to have a fan favorite in 2025.
Jose Cordova
Stats: .265/.321/.347 (.668 OPS), 0 HR, 2 BB, 15 K
Jose Cordova is a name many haven’t heard of. The versatile Cordova (C, 1B, and a sprinkle of outfield) played in 84 Northwest League games with a .758 OPS for the year, cracking the league’s top 30. Unlike his teammates, Jose did not miss time due to injury and put together a respectable 2024 that caught the eyes of Rockies brass as a potential versatile corner piece.
Cordova only played in 13 games as a Rafter and was able to rack up 4 doubles, 5 RBI and 3 stolen bases. The intriguing part is the amount of time split between catcher (6 games) and first base (7 games) compared to Spokane (20 games at catcher, 63 at first). Cordova will likely start in Hartford for the 2025 campaign with some pressure on his bat to keep performing.
Pitchers
Evan Justice
Stats: 8.2 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.11 WHIP, 0 H, 1 BB, 11 K 🔥
The lone AZFL Rockies prospect with MLB experience, Evan Justice needed the extra work to refine a new delivery that he was working on in the Spring Training facilities’ “Lab”. He was unhittable in the Arizona Fall League. Literally.
Before refining his mechanics, Justice was a mid-90s lefty with a devastating breaking ball but consistency was never his forte after only spending 69 innings in the minors before his MLB debut.
Justice got 26 outs without allowing a hit, only walking 1. To put that in perspective, he had 34 BB’s in 24.2 innings in Albuquerque last season. 11 of the 26 outs Justice recorded were by way of the strikeout as well. If Justice can do this out of Spring Training, he should be part of the Rockies Arm Barn on Opening Day.
Carlos Torres
Stats: 8.2 IP, 2.08 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, 5 H, 2 BB, 12 K
The 6-4 righty out of Lehigh University was only able to get 25 innings under his belt in ’24 across the ACL and Spokane. He showed solid command, walking just 4 batters in that time to go along with a 1.154 WHIP.
His numbers in Arizona were similar to his promising 2024 showing with an 0.808 WHIP, 2.08 ERA, and 2 BB/12 K. His big fastball coupled with his slider and changeup gets a lot of whiffs.
After entering the Fall League as somewhat of an unknown commodity, Torres put himself firmly on the MLB radar. Torres should be a Goat in 2025.
McCade Brown
Stats: 11.1 IP, 3.18 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, 8 H, 11 BB, 16 K
McCade is one of Blake Street Banter’s favorite prospects. He’s a big arm out of Indiana who just hasn’t been able to stay healthy. Brown started at the Complex to begin ’24 after missing all of the 2023 season rehabbing from Tommy John, but after a June setback, Brown found himself on the IL once again. He closed out the season with 9.1 innings in Fresno.
The former 3rd round pick is a prospect the Rockies want to see flourish considering his legitimate MLB-quality stuff. That stuff was on display in Arizona.
16 strikeouts in 11.1 innings proves that McCade still has that same bat-missing stuff. However, 11 walks in the background shows Brown is still working to get the same feel for pitching post-injury. If the Rockies get a completely healthy Brown for 2025, we could be looking at another MLB debut.
Michael Prosecky
Stats: 15.1 IP, 7.63 ERA, 2.02 WHIP, 22 H, 9 BB, 23 K
Prosecky was able to get into 8 games this Fall, logging multiple innings in most of them from the bullpen. This means nothing as far as Prosecky’s future as a starter goes. It is common for starters to appear as relievers in the Fall League as the team usually only relies on 6 or 7 of the 20+ pitchers on the roster to start.
Prosecky’s Fall League numbers left something to be desired; he was a little all over the place and got hit hard. He did, however, strike out batters at an elite rate, as evidenced by Prosecky’s 6 K game earlier this month: watch some clips here.
Prosecky enters a pivotal year in his career after injuries have stalled out the immense success he experienced in 2023. He’ll likely appear out of the Yard Goats rotation to start the 2025 campaign.
Gabriel Hughes
Stats: 17.1 IP, 8.31 ERA, 1.73 WHIP, 20 H, 10 BB, 14 K
Last, but not least, Big Guy Gabe (nickname work in progress). The 2022 first-round pick by the Rockies was cruising through the Minors in his first professional season before undergoing Tommy John surgery. Hughes did not pitch in 2024 and saw his first game action in Arizona–a tough setting for your first organized games post-surgery.
Gabe, being a competitor, was not happy with how things started but there are some good things to take away. 14 K across 17.1 innings is nothing to scoff at after TJ, but the 1.731 WHIP will be motivation for Hughes coming into 2025. The power and pitching mentality will always be there with Hughes and 2025 will be a key year in determining whether the Rockies may have a future rotation fixture in Hughes or not.
From our Banter Session with Chris Forbes, expect Hughes to piggy back in Hartford.
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