Cole Carrigg describes himself this way: “I play with my hair on fire, no matter the situation.”
The 24-year-old’s burning desire, elite athleticism, and an electrifying season at Triple-A Albuquerque busted down the big-league door. He made his debut for the Rockies on Tuesday night against the Cubs at Coors Field, starting in center field and batting seventh.
In 257 plate appearances at Triple-A, he slashed .338 /.414/.529 with six home runs, 15 doubles, five triples, 42 RBIs, and 30 stolen bases in 37 attempts.
He admitted that he’s been peeking at a major league promotion. After all, he ranked among the Pacific Coast League leaders in stolen bases (first), runs scored (55, second), triples (tied for second), batting average (third) and total bases (119, third.) He appeared in 37 games in center field and 18 games at shortstop, though the Rockies are likely to play him only in the outfield.
“It’s definitely difficult (waiting) when you feel like you have a chance to be up here, and help the team,” he said before Tuesday’s game. “When you are playing well, it’s kind of hard not to look up here. It’s hard to stay where your feet are, but that’s the best thing you can do — keep taking advantage of those opportunities at Triple-A and make sure you’re ready when you get here.”
Carrigg, who played at San Diego State, was the 65th overall pick in the 2023 draft. He’s a switch-hitter with speed. For the Aztecs, he played every position on the diamond except for first base and right field. Baseball America has Carrigg as the Rockies’ No. 4 prospect and
Chris Forbes, Colorado’s director of player development, fully expects Carrigg to push the envelope. And keep pushing. And then push some more.
“This guy is not a golf cart, this is a GTO,” Forbes said. “He’s a wild stallion and you don’t want to break him. He is an extremely aggressive baseball player. He is a throw-behind-the-runner, maybe even throw it into the dugout type of player.
“But then he’ll throw the guy out at home — the same guy he put on second base. He’s not a junior college kid, but he plays with a junior college player’s mentality. You’ve got to let him play with the edge that he plays with. If you numb him, you’re going to have a vanilla kid out there and you just can’t have that.”
However, that doesn’t mean Carrigg doesn’t face a steep learning curve. He worked in the offseason to hone his approach at the plate and learn how to better use his athleticism in the outfield.
At Double-A Hartford last season, Carrigg got into some swing-happy bad habits and had a 27% strikeout rate. But at Triple-A this season, he’s had a very low 15.2% strikeout rate and a solid 10.5% walk rate.
“We had a lot of talks about that over spring (training),” Carrigg said. “We talked about controlling the zone better and taking better at-bats and really dialing into what I want at the plate. A big shout-out to Matt Snyder, our hitting coach at Triple-A, who was always on me about it, whether I wanted to hear it or not. It definitely got me better, definitely helped.”
One of the things the Rockies wanted to see was Carrigg make better use of his speed and athleticism in the outfield.
“His routes and reads were just OK, but he could close gaps with his speed,” Forbes said. “So we started working with him, playing him a little bit deep. And he worked on getting truer reads and better jumps because he’s going to need that here at Coors Field.”
Carrigg worked overtime to get better.
“Over the last month, I have really worked on routes and the first step,” Carrig said. “It’s really about being focused on every pitch because it’s easy to get a little lax out there, so far away from the action.”
Manager Warren Schaeffer, a big fan of Carrigg’s during spring training, is excited to see what the prospect can do in the big leagues. He understands that there will be growing pains, but he’s the kind of player who can inject lift into a ballclub.
“He can run, he can hit from both sides of the plate, he can play instinctual center field,” Scheaffer said, and continued on. “He can play a good shortstop, he steals bases. A lot of people do that, but there are not a lot of people that do that without fear. I like that that is part of his game.”
Carrigg’s Climb
Rockies outfielder/shortstop Cole Carrigg made his major league debut on Tuesday night vs. the Cubs at Coors Field. Here are the big steps the 24-year-old from Modesto, Calif., took to reach the big leagues:
• Selected by the Rockies in the competitive-balance B round of the 2023 draft (65th overall selection) out of San Diego State.
• 2025 Double-A Hartford: In 123 games, slashed .237/.316/.394 with 15 home runs, 18 doubles, six triples, and 46 stolen bases in 56 attempts.
• 2026 Triple-A Albuquerque: In 57 games, slashed .338/.414/.529 with six home runs, 15 doubles, five triples, and 30 stolen bases in 37 attempts.
— Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post
Source: Baseball Reference
