The Rockies revamped front office has charged through a series of firsts over the last eight months.
First spring training, first Opening Day roster, first promising stretch and subsequent long losing streak.
The results: Decidedly mixed. Colorado is better than the past couple of years and has shown improvement in some key metrics. At 38-56, the team has a chance to break a four-year streak finishing at the bottom of the NL West. At the same time, only the Los Angeles Angels enter Thursday with a worse record than Colorado’s, only the A’s have a worse run differential than Colorado’s minus-80 and the Rockies are currently pacing toward once again flirting with 100 losses.
As the summer has progressed, so, too, has Colorado’s youth movement. That will continue this weekend with yet another first for the revamped Rockies’ front office: The MLB Draft. It kicks off Saturday, runs through the weekend and features Colorado as one of the league’s more interesting teams.
The Rockies hold pick the No. 10 overall plus Nos. 37 and 38 in the Competitive Balance A round. Colorado will select five times total in the opening four rounds Saturday night (also Nos. 76 and 104), has 21 selections overall and checks in at No. 9 in baseball with a salary pool of $15,557,600.
There’s no firm consensus on which direction president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta and general manager Josh Byrnes will go at No. 10, nor what their approach to picking the first set of what will be truly their own players might look like.
“It was really starting to try to create a shared vision for the organization about what we wanted our guys to look like — both pitchers and position players,” DePodesta . “I think we’ve communicated that throughout the course of the spring with our scouts, our player development people, even with our Major League team.
“As we go into the Draft process, my guess is a lot of our selections will reflect that it’s hard to find 21 players for 20 rounds that are going to fit that precisely, so that’s not necessarily what we’re trying to do. It won’t be cookie cutter, but I think there will be elements of each of those players that absolutely fit our philosophies.”
Of course, many factors matter in finding successful big leaguers. Every team wants position players who are athletic, project to play up the middle, excel on defense and more.
One factor that appears to be carrying more weight these days among Rockies brass: Pitch selection.
They’ve raved about it with recent MLB promotion Cole Carrigg, who walked 27 times and struck out 39 in AAA this spring before getting called up. That was a major turnaround from 2025, when he walked 45 times and struck out 145 in AA.
“You want swing decisions that are probably in place (before promoting players),” Byrnes told The Post earlier this year, using a basketball analogy: Players have to know first which shot is theirs. Then they’ve got to make them.
The same goes for Roldy Brito, the fast-rising prospect who was recently named to MLB’s Futures Game, and others in the system.
According to recent TrueMedia data, Rockies prospects are swinging less and also chasing less than in years past. Across all minor leagues, the Rockies’ 45% swing rate is No. 18 and 26.4% chase rate is No. 24.
Compare to recent years:
2025: 47.3% swing (No. 2), 29.1% chase (No. 31)
2024: 48.6% swing (No. 1), 30% chase (No. 31)
2023: 47.4% swing (No. 3), 28.7% chase (No. 31)
Those numbers indicate a broader shift in approach and that teams can help young players make good swing decisions, but it would not be surprising if that is also a trait the Rockies will be pursuing as the draft kicks off.
On the pitching front, there is no magic answer for succeeding at Coors Field, but the way the Rockies’ front office identifies and selects pitchers will be equally interesting this weekend.
| Carlos Collazo | Updated July 8
No. 10, Slot value: $6.39 million — Derek Curiel, OF, LSU
Collazo: “I’ve still heard mostly college names for the Rockies here, and Derek Curiel and (Arkansas catcher) Ryder Helfrick are two of the most popular names. I wouldn’t rule out (Coastal Carolina RHP) Cameron Flukey or (Florida RHP) Liam Peterson, either.”
No. 37 (Comp. A), Slot value: $2.7 million — Jack Slightom, RHP, Lyons H.S. (LeGrange, Ill.)
No. 38 (Comp. A), Slot value: $2.63 million — Chase Brunson, OF, TCU
| Eric Longenhagen | Updated July 8
No. 10: Zion Rose, OF, Louisville
Longenhagen: “When a team has turnover at the top of their front office, I tend to mock college players to them the following year because itap much easier to get up to speed on the college class since the important high school activity has already happened when they’re hired. Rockies GM Josh Byrnes, who came from the Dodgers, has always seen lots of players throughout the amateur calendar, so I’m not sure that logic holds as true for him as the baseline. That said, Rose, who has homes from here to the mid-20s, does a lot of the stuff the Dodgers targeted in their drafts while Byrnes was there. He hits for contact, he’s fast, and he might have another offensive gear if his approach and swing can be tweaked so that he pulls the ball more.”
| Mark Powell | Updated July 7
No. 10: Curiel
Powell: “If Tyler Bell or Drew Burress makes it this far, expect the Rockies to pounce. In recent weeks, we projected the Rockies as the first team to really consider Justin Lebron, but that would not be the smartest choice. Rather, Derek Curiel is atop the second tier of collegiate hitters. The LSU product didn’t make the college baseball postseason through no fault of his own. He’s an overlooked college bat who has a 60-grade hit tool from the left side. While not the flashiest pick, the Rockies need more players like Curiel to build from the ground up.”
| Keith Law | Updated July 6
No. 10: Tyler Bell, SS, Kentucky
Law: “I think the Rockies are more likely to go hitter than pitcher, and more likely to go college than high school, with Bell, Derek Curiel, Ryder Helfrick and Liam Peterson all possibilities.”
| Jonathan Mayo | Updated July 2
No. 10: AJ Gracia, OF, Virginia
Mayo: “This continues to feel like another spot for a college hitter, with Lebron, Curiel, Bell and Hacopian also in the mix, but the Rockies might opt for the pure hit tool and plate discipline Gracia provides. The one arm they might consider is Florida right-hander Liam Peterson.”
No. 37 (Comp. A): Cade Townsend, RHP, Mississippi
No. 38 (Comp. A): Chase Brunson, OF, TCU
| Kiley McDaniel | Updated June 18
No. 10: Justin Lebron, SS, Alabama
McDaniel: “Lebron is a polarizing player who is all over the place on draft boards. The Rockies need standout talent and can afford to be patient. I think scouts have gotten frustrated watching Lebron not make the leap this year and are overrating how bad his contact issues will be in pro ball; with a slightly flatter swing plane, I think there’s a happy medium between contact and power. We’re almost into the ‘the next 20 players are all really similar’ part of the draft.”
