Rockies assign Rodgers to Minors camp

The .222/.275/.525 slash line produced by Brendan Rodgers at his second Major League Spring Training might not overwhelm, but the top Rockies prospect impressed in Scottsdale the past several weeks.
Any further improvements at camp will take place on the back fields.

Rodgers, MLB.com's No. 10 overall prospect, was one of six Rockies assigned to Minor League camp on Saturday. From there, Rockies manager Bud Black told reporters, the 22-year-old infielder will begin the season where he ended 2018 -- at Triple-A Albuquerque. The goal for Rodgers will be to sharpen his defense in middle of the diamond. A natural shortstop, he spent time at second base this spring and will continue to get reps on the left side of the infield as well.

That defensive versatility should help bring Rodgers' loudest tool -- his bat -- to the Majors sooner. He batted .336/.373/.567 with 18 homers and 26 doubles between Class A Advanced Lancaster and Double-A Hartford in 2017, then followed that up with a .275/.342/.493 slash line in 95 games with Hartford last year. He earned a late-season promotion to Triple-A, where he hit .232 in 19 games.
This spring, Rodgers struck out only three times in 38 plate appearances after fanning 13 times in his first appearance in big league camp.
"Offensively, and I told him this, from 12 months ago to now, just in the Spring Training at-bats, laying off the breaking ball, not expanding the zone," Black told MLB.com. "If you look a year ago at some of the Spring Training statistics, the strikeouts were up a little bit, the walks were down.

"This year, just three strikeouts in 30-plus at-bats. He walked a few times. These are different type numbers than you saw at Albuquerque. Progress there on pitch recognition, the quality of the at-bats -- swinging at strikes, taking balls. That's what he has to carry over into the regular season, but there's no denying the bat-to-ball skill and the potential power."
Joining Rodgers in Minor League camp were left-hander and No. 17 prospect Ben Bowden, righty Matt Pierpont, catcher Dom Nuñez, infielder Bret Boswell (No. 26) and first baseman Brian Mundell (No. 30).