It wasn’t surprising that Tulsa center fielder Dexter Fowler and pitcher Jhoulys Chacin were singled out by Marc Gustafson as the top performers in the Rockies’ farm system as he looked toward the end of the season.
The team’s director of player development noted Fow- ler’s high ranking in most organizational hitting categories and sees Chacin’s 14-1 record between time at Asheville and Modesto as the buzz around minor-league baseball.
“It’s easy to see what Fowler has done offensively with the statistics, but it’s not so easy to see how great he’s played in center field,” Gustafson said. “The only thing holding him back is the short outfield wall in center field in Tulsa. He has amazed people with his defensive play.”
Chacin opened the season with a 10-1 record at Asheville in the South Atlantic League. He moved up to Modesto of the Single-A California League and promptly won his first four starts.
“He not only handled the step-up in level of competition but the change in locations as well,” Gustafson said. “Asheville is warm and humid, while Modesto is a little like pitching in Colorado Springs.”
Chacin, a 20-year-old right- hander from Venezuela, has thrown 138 1/3 innings to lead all minor-league pitchers, and his 126 strikeouts are tied for the lead.
Fowler’s 73 runs scored and seven triples lead the organization, and his .325 average, 116 hits and 24 doubles are among the leaders. He went into the weekend hitting .333 during his last 10 games.
Gustafson then turned his attention to the No. 1 draft picks still in the system.
Reliever Casey Weathers, the top pick in 2007, has put together a solid season at Tulsa. His 2.68 ERA is among the leaders in the organization, but he didn’t get the closer’s role as expected because the development department wanted him to pitch more than one inning.
Weathers and Fowler are candidates for the U.S. Olympic baseball team. If international baseball is their focus in August, it could cloud their chances for a September call-up.
The other No. 1s:
• Ian Stewart, who was called up to the Rockies from Colorado Springs on Saturday and will get an extended look at third base, leads the organization in home runs with 19. Strikeouts are an issue, but he hasn’t slipped as a prospect.
• Right-hander Greg Reynolds showed flashes of potential while with the Rockies, but the top pick from two years ago should benefit from more seasoning at Triple-A.
• Infielder Chris Nelson (2004) is starting back at Modesto after sitting out almost two months with an injury. He’ll make up for lost time in the Arizona Fall League.
• Left-hander Christian Friedrich, this year’s top pick, has pitched six innings over two starts at Tri-City. He has allowed seven earned runs and doesn’t have a decision.
Gustafson’s comeback players are Tulsa outfielder Matt Miller, the organization’s leading hitter at .344, and pitcher Juan Morillo at Colorado Springs. After a poor start, Morillo has posted a 1.54 ERA in 11 2/3 innings in his last 10 appearances.
Utility player Christian Colonel (Colorado Springs) is Gustafson’s dark horse. Colonel is hitting .319 and has played just about every position for manager Tom Runnells.
Gustafson listed left-handed pitcher Franklin Morales, a member of the Rockies’ rotation at the start of the season, and Nelson, because of the injury, as the biggest disappointments.
In 10 appearances with the Sky Sox, Morales has 48 walks, 43 strikeouts, an ERA of 6.97 and a 6-4 record.
Minor-league spotlight on
3B Darin Holcomb, Single-A Asheville
The performance this season of third baseman Darin Holcomb for the Asheville Tourists makes it clear the Rockies’ organization has good depth behind big-leaguer Garrett Atkins.
In his second year in the organization, Holcomb has overmatched the pitching in the South Atlantic League. He’s riding a 43-game on-base streak, his 38 doubles are the best in minor-league baseball and his .340 batting average is second in the Rockies’ farm system. In the last 10 games before the weekend, Holcomb hit .405 with 15 hits, including eight doubles, with nine RBIs. Last year, Holcomb hit .303 with 23 doubles with the Tri-City Dust Devils of the Northwest League.
“I haven’t played this many games in a season before and I’m happy with the consistency of my performance,” said Holcomb, a 12th-round draft pick in 2007 out of Gonzaga University.
