Brendan Rodgers is one of the best young prospects in the game. Toss in that he will get to play half his games at Coors Field, and you can understand the excitement that accompanies him. Reports are suggesting that the vaunted prospect will be called up Friday, and that means we have to break him down so you know how much of your FAAB budget you are doing go have to blow to add him.
22 years old
Bats/Throws: Right/Right
Height/Weight: 6’0”, 185 lbs
Position: Second base, Shortstop
THE NUMBERS
|
|
Level |
Games |
AVG |
HR |
RBI |
Runs |
SB |
OPS |
|
2015 |
RK |
37 |
.273 |
3 |
20 |
22 |
4 |
.759 |
|
2016 |
A |
110 |
.281 |
19 |
73 |
73 |
6 |
.821 |
|
2017 |
A+, AA |
89 |
.336 |
18 |
64 |
64 |
2 |
.940 |
|
2018 |
AA, AAA |
114 |
.268 |
17 |
67 |
54 |
12 |
.790 |
|
2019 |
AAA |
35 |
.356 |
9 |
21 |
34 |
0 |
1.065 |
|
|
Per |
162 |
.296 |
66 |
245 |
247 |
24 |
.857 |
|
|
Baseball America |
Baseball Prospectus |
MLB.com |
|
2016 |
40th |
20th |
12th |
|
2017 |
16th |
11th |
15th |
|
2018 |
22nd |
12th |
15th |
|
2019 |
14th |
22nd |
10th |
He was the third overall selection in the 2015 MLB Entry Draft.
THE SKILLS
From the Preseason Rookie Writeup.
The third selection in the 2015 Draft, Rodgers is seen by most as the Rockies top prospect. He has good pitch recognition and a solid power bat for a middle infielder. He’s yet to reach 20 homers in a season, but he’s also never appeared in 115 games. He can become a bit pull conscious at times, and he’s also not exactly Mr. Patience with 95 walks… in 350 career games. He has the speed to steal double-digit bases, and the power to hit 20+ homers. He plays for the Rockies. He’s on the cusp of the big-leagues. Really, there’s a lot of Trevor Story in his game.
Everyone loves Rodgers game, and it’s pretty easy to see why.
Rodgers has elite bat speed allowing him to rap out hits all over the field. He has great “barrel skills” as he consistently gets the fat part of the bat on the baseball. With those skills, Rodgers is able to drive the ball from line to line, using the whole field, to exploit what a pitcher gives him.
One critique has been about his approach. Like many youngsters, Rodgers can be very aggressive at the dish. At times, he has been exposed by hurlers who have a large repertoire of pitches that they can call on, he can chase off-speed stuff out of the zone, and when he falls into a bit of a funk his swing can get a bit out of whack as the timing between his upper/lower half can become a bit disjointed. That said, his spray chart shows that he can certainly use the whole field when he’s locked in, a trait that will boost his outlook early in his big-league career.
This season we’ve seen some improvements with the approach, and that’s extremely heartening. Rodgers has actually started to take some walks, while at the same time cutting down his strikeout rate a bit, and the resulting 0.56 BB/K ratio is significantly better than the poor 0.34 mark he owns for his career. If he can continue to stay within himself, and hone this aspect of his approach, it will go a long way to helping him avoid slumps at the next level. This early season growth, and let’s not forget it’s only 35 games, but if he can reign in that aggressive tendency of his just a wee bit… Look at the results this season. It’s hardly surprising that is more patient approach has led to a bounty of success with that 1.066 OPS an impressive .289 Isolated Power mark.
PLAYING TIME
As I write this report, we do not have team confirmation that Rodgers will be called up. We do have a beat reporter saying the following. “… [Rodgers] will be summoned from Triple-A to the Majors to make his first appearance on a Major League roster Friday night… The club has not announced the move and declined to make any public comment on the potential of promoting Rodgers…” I assume that Mr. Harding has it on good authority, but just thought I would note it.
Where does Rodger play?
Trevor Story is the shortstop, duh, but he did bang his knee Wednesday. He says he is fine and that he thinks he will be able to play Friday. “It’s definitely sore, and we kind of made the decision that it would be smarter — it’s a long season and I’ve been going at it for a while — so we made the decision together to evaluate it, make sure.” Even if he misses some time, there is no expectation at the moment that he will miss an appreciable period of time. It should be noted that Rodgers has dealt with a myriad of health issues himself.
That would leave second base open, and let’s face facts. Second base has been a mess for the Rockies. No matter who they have tried there – chiefly Garrett Hampson and Ryan McMahon – it just hasn’t worked (Daniel Murphy hasn’t been right, so there’s also a chance that McMahon could shift to first base – at least in the short run). It’s also unlikely that recently recalled Pat Valaika is gonna hold off Rodgers (another duh comment). Through 42 games their second basemen have produced the following putrid numbers: .200-0-11-20-0 with a .514 OPS. The position has been a blackhole of offense. Rodgers should be able to take over the second base spot, once Story is ready to rock, and he will certainly produce better than the hideous work they have received to this point of the season.
As to where Rodgers will hit in the order, that’s a good question. He could slide into the two hole, or he could end up hitting 6th or 7th (guesstimate by yours truly).
Final note. He will likely be shortstop eligible in your fantasy league. Maybe also second base to start. If he plays second, as seems likely, he’s then dual position eligible which sweetens the pot even further. He’s even played third base a bit in the minors, but that wont matter with Mr. Arenado in Colorado.
CONCLUSION
Rodgers has the ability to hit 25 homers at the big-league level, potentially more as he develops. If he can maintain his willingness to show a bit more patience, there’s also a good chance that he has the skills to be a significant batting average booster as well hitting .290+. Toss in the ability to steal 5-10 bases, and we have ourselves a mighty useful fantasy piece.
One has to assume that Rodgers, if called up, is here to stay. Given everything, he’s got the talent to be a starting middle infielder in mixed leagues the rest of the way, but there are a lot of guys that also fit into that mix, and they won’t be anywhere near as costly to roster off waivers, or through a trade. The bidding will be fierce for Rodgers.
FAAB Recommendation: It’s going to take a whopper of a bid to get Rodgers. He has pedigree. He has a strong season going in the minors. He plays a premium defensive position (likely two in fantasy leagues). He will play half his games in Colorado. Can’t see him going for less than 30 percent of budgets this weekend, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the folks that missed out on the likes of Vlad Jr. and Senzel to easily bid more than half of their funds to add Rodgers.
Ray Flowers can be heard Monday-Friday, 8-10 PM EDT on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87). Follow Ray’s work on Twitter (@baseballguys) and be sure to listen to his podcast work too.
