There are plenty of reasons to be less than excited about the Rockies 2023 season. The biggest improvement for a team that went 68-94 last season is in building up the farm system, which is ranked No. 14 in MLB Pipeline's preseason rankings (improved from No. 24 last preseason). This is not likely to manifest into more than 68 wins this season, but it does provide hope for the future. In the meantime, there are still things to look forward to this season.
Justin Lawrence dropped his arm slot — and raised his odds. Before Lawrence was a flame-throwing sidearmer in the Rockies' bullpen, he was just another right-handed reliever at Jacksonville University. “I realized that if I was going to get to the big leagues, it was going to be a different route for me,” Lawrence said. Lawrence's professional stock took off from there, but not before his progress was derailed by a positive test for PEDs that resulted in an 80-game suspension in 2020.
For a Rockies rotation short on southpaws — and for a farm system short on southpaw prospects — Ryan Rolison was a rare talent. The first college left-hander drafted in 2018, Rolison checked all the boxes coming out of Ole Miss. Durability. More misfortune struck last year when a strained left shoulder led to surgery that wiped out his entire season. Rolison was a highly-touted prep player at the University School of Jackson in Tennessee, where he was named the state's Mr. Baseball.
No | Player | Pos |
---|---|---|
52 | P | |
59 | P | |
18 | P | |
21 | P | |
58 | P | |
26 | P | |
55 | P | |
64 | P | |
36 | P | |
40 | P | |
20 | P | |
32 | P | |
61 | P | |
48 | P | |
47 | P | |
43 | P | |
49 | P | |
39 | P | |
51 | P |
No | Player | Pos |
---|---|---|
35 | C | |
6 | C |
No | Player | Pos |
---|---|---|
12 | 1B | |
25 | 1B | |
24 | 3B | |
44 | 3B | |
7 | 2B | |
14 | SS | |
13 | SS |
No | Player | Pos |
---|---|---|
19 | RF | |
23 | LF | |
2 | CF | |
15 | CF | |
29 | LF | |
4 | RF |