The Rockies hope Roldy Brito can be the poster prospect for a new type of contact hitter at Coors Field.
Colorado’s big-league team has racked up more strikeouts — 5,260 entering Friday — than any club over the last four seasons, with the team on track for its fourth-straight 100-loss season. The Rockies swing more than anyone (50.5%) and chase more than anyone (32.1%). And that ugly trend trickled down to the minors, where Colorado prospects have been ranked near the in effective swing rate.
“We’re tracking swing decisions,” Rockies farm director Chris Forbes said. “We’re trying to get guys into count levers. And that’s going to be key going forward. When you’re trying to change the narrative of what we’ve seen in the big leagues with the last three or four years offensively, we’re going to have to grow the guys we have differently.”
That’s where Brito, and the No. 80-ranked prospect in baseball, comes in.
Just 19, the second baseman/center fielder from the Dominican Republic is a speedy, high-average, low-strikeout switch-hitter who has rocketed up prospect boards after a head-turning 2025 season in which he won Arizona Complex League MVP and then tore it up in the latter part of the summer in Low-A.
Brito is back in Low-A Fresno again this year, largely because the Rockies can afford to slow-play the teenager’s development, especially when it comes to his swing decisions. Brito hit .371 with a .444 on-base percentage in ’25, and is batting .327 through 49 California League games in ’26.
“It’s easy to sit there and stare at his batting average, right? And say, ‘Is he being challenged enough at this level?'” Forbes said. “But we’re trying to refine his approach. What he’s looking for, what zones he’s trying to protect, just having knowledge to advance what he’s seeing from his plan standpoint. This has been a big emphasis for him this year.
“As in, what at-bats are you giving away? What at-bats are you getting soft contact? There has to be a give and take with what (hitting) zones you’re trying to cover, because you can’t cover it all. We’re trying to kind of create more of the hitter mindset with him and everyone at all levels.”
That’s why Brito is still in Fresno, even as he continues to rake. Under the Rockies’ old front office, he’d likely already be in High-A Spokane, where Forbes says he’ll end up at some point this summer.
But under new president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta, Forbes said the focus on swing decisions and better approaches with hitters on the farm has been heightened.
“It’s a big thing that’s been talked about in the past, but I just had never felt that we had the buy-in like we do now,” Forbes said.
The expectation is that focus cuts down on strikeouts organization-wide but also increases walks, another area The Rockies’ 6.7% walk rate in ’25 was the lowest in the majors, and a direct correlation to that was that Colorado had the lowest on-base percentage in the minors last year at .293.
Even though he’s over two years younger than the average position player in Low-A, Brito understands his role as a highly rated prospect in helping shift Colorado’s offensive approach.
“I’m putting a lot of work into my strike zone — trying to swing less, lay off balls out of the zone, and really focus on that area,” Brito said. “Being MVP of the Arizona Complex League last year, that was a beautiful moment. I prepared a lot for that. But I knew what it took to get there, and I know what it takes to get to the next level, and the level beyond that. It’s about being consistent and trying to get better every day.”
While the Rockies aim to harness Brito’s raw speed on the bases and in the outfield, especially considering he only started playing center field about a year ago, the organization sees a big-league future for him that was largely unexpected when Brito signed as a lower-profile international prospect for a $420,000 bonus in 2024.
says Brito “has a lot of work to do in all areas, but he’s going to be a great player in the majors.” Forbes agrees.
“He can get his swing off, he can also bunt for base hits, he can also steal bags,” Forbes said. “He’s got a lot of unbelievable dynamics to him to foresee a guy that’s got this all-star ability at the big-league level eventually. And I think his power’s going to show up in a high rate of hard contact … so I truly see a guy that’s going to hopefully stay in the gaps and be that top-of-the-order table-setter.
“There’s heavy expectations on Roldy. He puts them on himself as well. But we want to build him the right way.”
