Colorado Rockies : 2025 Team Profile
A preview of the 2025 Colorado Rockies
2024 Record: 61 - 101
2025 Projected Record: 65 - 97
Notable Offseason Moves
Signed 2B Thairo Estrada for 1 year - $4 million
What to Watch For in Spring Training
Nothing. Just kidding; kind of; not really. I don’t know. I am going through this series in order of projected standings, and the Rockies are *projected* to win more games than the White Sox; but I would not, at all, be surprised if Colorado finishes as the worst team in Major League Baseball.
I do believe the Thairo Estrada signing will be a good one. I think he’s gonna show out a bit in Colorado. There’s not much better of a place to sign a 1-year prove-it deal than in the altitude, hitters-paradise that is Coors Field.
One guy to keep an eye on this spring is Chase Dollander. The 9th overall selection in the 2023 draft, Dollander has the ability to be the ace for the Rockies by 2026/2027. In his first year of pro ball, he made 23 starts, pitching to a 2.59 ERA across high-A and AA, striking out 169 batters in just 118 innings.
Unfortunately, he’d be pitching in the worst pitcher’s ballpark in the sport. Although, being successful there would make it all the more impressive. He surely won’t break Spring Training with the big league club, but ideally, we’ll get to see him make a couple starts and see how his stuff matches up against big league hitters.
Contrary to the opening line; I will say that if the Estrada signing works out, and Michael Toglia can follow up his impressive-ish 2024, while cutting down on the strikeouts, this could wind up being a pretty solid offense. It’ll be interesting to see how this lineup shapes up throughout the spring. Brenton Doyle and Ezequiel Tovar at the top of the order is a very solid 1-2 punch; filling out the rest of the lineup will be the question mark.
Position Battles to Monitor
There’s really only two; and I certainly wouldn’t say they’re exciting position battles, but they are position battles, nonetheless.
The first one I’ll get into is at catcher. Jacob Stallings, who is slotted as the current starting catcher, had, by far, his best season as big leaguer in 2024. He finished the season with an OPS of .810, which is over 100 points higher than any season previously with more than 5 games played. Additionally, it was his first season with an above average OPS+ with any regular playing time (2019-2024).
However, the Rockies’ first round pick in the 2020 draft, Drew Romo got a taste of big league action in 2024, and should see plenty more this upcoming season. His initial taste was a bit sour, batting under .200 in just 16 games played. He did show out in AAA though, which would indicate he could see some serious improvement with more regular playing time in Denver.
Romo showed some serious pop in his minor league action, batting .297 with 14 HRs in just 85 games. He’s a low strikeout, contact hitter with some pop from both sides of the plate. Regular playing time in the altitude could really allow Romo to shine in this lineup.
The right field position could also be up for grabs. Sam Hilliard and Jordan Beck are projected to split the position at the moment; most likely platooning depending on who’s pitching against them that day.
I believe, however, Beck could take the reins if he’s given some steady playing time. He has been excellent the past two seasons in the minors, showing 20/20+ upside with an OBP that can approach .380.
He’s made just four errors across 175 minor league games in the outfield, and just one while playing in right field. That steady defense, along with a plus bat could very well earn him a permanent stay in the second half of the Rockies lineup in 2025 and beyond.
Player Focus
It was quite difficult to pick just one guy to focus on as I love Ezequiel Tovar as well, but I’m going to highlight Brenton Doyle. I believe, by the end of 2025, the casual fan will know who Brenton Doyle is. He’s a true 5-tool player that will be in “best center fielders in baseball” conversations before too long.
His contact rate from 2023 to 2024 jumped out at me. He had virtually the same amount of strikeouts in each of his first two seasons (151 in 2023, 153 in 2024), while doing it in 172 more plate appearances in 2024, which is a drop from 35.0% to 25.4%. He did this while putting up 51 extra-base hits, 72 RBI and 30 SB, and playing gold glove defense.
Just to name a few stat jumps from 2023 to 2024: barrel percentage increased from 8.7% to 10.5%; hard-hit percentage increased from 35.0% to 41.4%; whiff percentage decreased from 35.8% to 29.8%. I could go on and on.
The sky is the limit for this kid. Jarren Duran had a very similar arc from 2022 to 2023, and then absolutely exploded in 2024, entering himself into MVP conversations. I can see the same for Doyle in 2025 (albeit without the MVP considerations due to market, unfortunately).
2025 Outlook
I have a mixed bag of feelings for the Rockies this season. I can see everything crashing and burning, dropping them to the worst team in baseball; and I can also see them winning 70+ games and being an up and coming team that can be frisky in a very tough division.
Honestly, it feels like it’ll fall somewhere in the middle. There will most likely be some growing pains for the young guys that will get their first real season with the big league team, to go along with some flashes that’ll make fans very optimistic about the future.