A Full Breakdown of the Colorado Rockies prospects headed to the Arizona Fall League

The Arizona Fall League rosters have been released this week with a lot of intriguing prospects on each team. There are six teams full of prospects from Major League teams that will play starting October 6th. I’ll be writing an article and making Twitter posts about each team’s roster. This will cover the prospects from the Colorado Rockies who will be on the Salt River Rafters this fall. The team will consist of players from the Los Angeles Angels, Arizona Diamondbacks, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Boston Red Sox as well.

Colorado Rockies:

Cade Denton RHP: After dominating at Oral Roberts the Rockies took Denton in the 6th round of the 2023 draft. He had a great first full season in Low-A in 2024 pitching 28.1 innings out of the bullpen to a 2.86 ERA. He struggled once being promoted to High-A in 2024 pitching 7.1 innings to a 7.36 ERA. This season in High-A he’s been great throwing 50.2 innings out of the bullpen to a 3.73 ERA. His strikeout rate went from 19.3% in 2024 all the way up to 28.1% this season. His walk rate also jumped 2.5% though as he became more wild. There is no public data for this season so I’m not sure what Denton did to male that much of a jump in strikeouts but using his last data Denton is a low slot reliever with a fastball that sits in the mid 90s. One guess I’d make to his stuff jumping is his slider added more depth which it had been lacking in the past. It’s very interesting what the Rockies did with Denton and we’ll see this fall.

Welinton Herrera LHP: After spending three seasons in the Dominican Summer League or the Complex League Herrera broke out in 2024 playing half his season in Low-A and half in High-A throwing a combined 62.1 innings out of the bullpen to a 3.47 ERA, 2.68 FIP, and only 1.19 WHIP. He has big strikeout stuff with a 35.4% strikeout rate in 2024 and kept his walk rate down to 8.8%. This season he started back in HIgh-A where he pitched 18.1 innings to a 0.49 ERA so he was obviously promoted to AA for the rest of the season. He continued to pitch well throwing 46.1 innings to a 3.50 ERA and 2.32 FIP. He struck out 34.2% and walked 9.3% basically what he’s done at every level the past two seasons. He has a great fastball that sits around 95 mph and touches 98 mph with great rise from quick delivery. His two secondaries leave a lot to be desired. His slider sits in the high 80s but doesn’t have enough depth as it needs to work off his fastball. He also has a changeup in the high 80s that he doesn’t command well and gets hit hard at times. I’m not really sure why Herrera is in the fall league as he’s eligible for the Rule 5 draft this offseason and I feel he’ll be added and should be added before he pitches this fall. 

Jack Mahoney RHP: After being drafted in the 3rd round in 2023 he immediately had a big inning season in 2024 pitching 120 innings. He was pretty good in Low-A pitching to a 3.52 ERA but struggled in his 25.1 innings in High-A with a 5.33 ERA. Even with the struggle he was promoted right up to AA this season and has pitched 104.2 innings to a 5.93 ERA. He doesn’t have the best stuff but has shown in the past great command. His strikeout rate was at 23.1% in 2024 but dropped to 17.1% in AA. His control which was seen as some of the best in the Rockies system wasn’t good this season as his walk rate jumped to 9.7%. His fastball sits in the mid 90s with some sink and he adds a mid 80s slider and alright changeup with good fade. Last season he was able to command his fastball and slider well but was inconsistent this year. He’s super athletic playing quarterback in high school and hitting for South Carolina in college and will have to use that to develop his pitches better in the future. 

Ben Shields LHP: Acquired at this year’s deadline from the Yankees in exchange for Jake Bird, Shields has only pitched about half this season after dealing with a couple injured list stints, mainly one at the start of the season making him miss the first month. Shields was signed as an undrafted player after playing at George Mason his last year in college. In his first professional he was great climbing from High-A all the way up to making a start in AAA. He ended the season throwing 106 innings to a 3.48 ERA total. He struck out 31.1% of batters while only walking 7.5%. Definitely not a starter who should’ve gone undrafted. This season he’s only been able to make 10 starts back in AA between the Yankees and Rockies. Ending the season with the Rockies he pitched 19.1 innings to a 2.33 ERA while staying around the same strike out and walk rate. The Yankees were able to unlock shields by dropping his release height and upping his fastball velocity to sitting around 93 mph and topping at 96 mph. His secondaries though are his two best pitches. His plus curveball sits in the low 80s with great drop and his slider is also in the low 80s and has some nasty depth to it. I’m not sure if Shields can continue to be a starter but if they decide to switch him to the bullpen he’ll be a great left handed hitter specialist for a long time. 

Austin Smith RHP: The Rockies traded reliever Tyler Kinley to the Braves before this year’s deadline for Smith. Before the trade he had a great first 11.1 innings in High-A for the Braves and was promoted to AA where he struggled in 20 innings with a 5.40 ERA. Once he was traded to the Rockies organization he was great in 16 innings in their AA pitching to a 1.69 ERA. He gets a good amount of strike outs sitting around 25% in his career but his control has been a question. In 2024 he walked 17.8% of batters but cut it down to 10.8% this season. He’s a fastball and slider type of reliever. His fastball is a plus pitch already sitting around 95 mph while touching the upper 90s often. His slider is more of an average pitch but he can locate it better than his fastball. A really good return for Kinley who before the trade had a 5.66 ERA with the Rockies but has since broken out in Atlanta with a 0.72 ERA. Smith can be a solid bullpen arm as soon as next season and the Rockies will have to make a decision soon as he’s currently Rule 5 Draft eligible. 

Braylen Wimmer UTL: A very interesting profile for the 2023 8th round pick as Wimer broke onto the scene in his first full season in Low-A last year hitting .285/.362/.435 for a 116 wRC+. The expectation was he’d take a step back after moving through the minors mainly because he wasn’t making as much contact as would be expected for those numbers and he was already 23 years old playing in Low-A. This season he continued his success though hitting .296/.336/.466 for a 125 wRC+ between High-A and AA. He still isn’t making enough contact in the zone and is chasing too many pitches but so far it’s working. He has solid raw power and has been able to turn that into game power so far hitting 17 homers this year to go along with 30 doubles. He doesn’t walk a ton at only a 7.7% rate this season but has kept his strikeout rate to 22.3% this season and it was consistent between High-A and AA. He also has good speed stealing 37 bases this year and 34 last year. The Rockies have played him all across the field getting time at every outfield position and every infield position except first base. A player that I don’t expect to continue his climb through the ranks as easy as it’s been but could develop into a nice utility player for the Rockies. 

Charlie Condon 1B: The 3rd overall pick in last year's draft has gotten often to a weird start to his Rockies career after suffering a broken wrist during Spring Training and missing basically the first month of the season but since then has been as good as advertised. He started in High-A playing 35 games where he hit .312/.431/.420 for a 134 wRC+ and continued this in AA playing in 55 games hitting .235/.342/.465 for a 133 wRC+. He’s known for his big power after a breakout 2024 season at Georgia where he won the Golden Spikes Award and hit 37 homers and showed it off at times this season with 14 homers. He doesn’t have a great hit tool though with a stiff swing that can generate power but tends to miss pitches especially breaking balls. He showed that in AA striking out 28.3% of the time with a 33% whiff rate. He chased about at an average rate and walked 12% of the time this year. He has the potential at the plate to be a special power hitter even with a questionable swing. In the field it’s a different story. At Georgia he played third base mostly but played all outfield spots as well and actually looked not bad out there. After his wrist injury it seems like the Rockies have slowed his time in the outfield down as he only played leftfield 8 times in High-A and didn’t play there in AA. He played third 5 total times and spent most of his time as the first basemen for High-A and AA. If he is going to stick at first then his potential value drops dramatically. We’ll see what the Rockies do with him this fall. 

Jared Thomas OF: The outfielder is quickly rising in prospects lists after breaking out this season hitting .330/.427/.495 for a 146 wRC+ in High-A and .245/.347/.374 for a 114 wRC+ in AA. Thomas was the Rockies’ 2nd round pick in 2024 who has hit since college at Texas. He has above average power and has the ability to keep it growing as he grows into his 6’2” frame. He is actually a lot like Condon, a hitter with raw power but who has struggled to make contact at times and that showed in AA where he only made contact on 66.4% of swings. He whiffs a lot more than Condon but can turn on pitches inside well. He has a good knowledge of the zone chasing and walked 13.1% of the time this year but he struggled with strikeouts especially at AA where he did 34.6% of his at bats. Unlike Condon, Thomas has great speed stealing 33 bases and uses it to play all over the outfield. He has a below average arm though and likely will be in left field for his career.

Thank you for reading for shorter breakdowns check out my Twitter @drew-durstock. Each day I'll release a new team's prospect breakdown.