The silver lining in the Rockies' five consecutive losing seasons is that they've embraced rebuilding and assembled a farm system that could carry them back to the playoffs in the near future.
No. 4 in MLBPipeline.com's system rankings, Colorado has tremendous balance when it comes to prospect talent, both in terms of hitters and pitchers and in terms of short-term and long-term help.
• MLB's Top 10 farm systems
Led by premium draft picks such as right-hander Jon Gray, outfielder David Dahl, third baseman Ryan McMahon and second baseman Forrest Wall, the Rockies already had some impressive building blocks heading into 2015. Then they added several more, beginning in June with a strong Draft effort that included $11,295,000 in bonuses for shortstop Brendan Rodgers, right-handers Mike Nikorak and Peter Lambert, and third baseman Tyler Nevin. A month later, first-year general manager Jeff Bridich traded face of the franchise Troy Tulowitzki to the Blue Jays for Jose Reyes and three quality righty pitching prospects: Jeff Hoffman, Miguel Castro and Jesus Tinoco.
• Rockies Top 30 Prospects list
Gray should play a prominent role in the rotation, catcher Tom Murphy and shortstop Trevor Story could claim starting jobs, and Castro is one of several power arms who could rejuvenate the bullpen. Dahl, McMahon, Hoffman, outfielder Raimel Tapia and left-hander Kyle Freeland all could arrive at Coors Field in 2017. Help is on the way.
Biggest jump/fall
Here are the players whose ranks changed the most from the 2015 preseason list to the 2016 preseason list.
Jump: Pedro Gonzalez, OF (2015: NR | 2016: 20)
Fall: Rosell Herrera, OF (2015: 10 | 2016: NR)
Team Top 30 Prospects lists
Best tools
Players are graded on a 20-80 scouting scale for future tools -- 20-30 is well below average, 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is above average and 70-80 is well above average.
Hit: Wall (55)
Power: McMahon (55)
Run: Wall (65)
Arm: Jordan Patterson (60)
Defense: Dahl (60)
Fastball: Carlos Estevez (75)
Curveball: Hoffman (65)
Slider: Gray (60)
Changeup: Tyler Anderson (60)
Control: Freeland (60)
Top 10 Farm Systems
How they were built
Draft: 18
International: 7
Trade: 5
Breakdown by ETA
2016: 8
2017: 10
2018: 7
2019: 4
2020: 1
Breakdown by position
C: 2
1B: 0
2B: 2
3B: 2
SS: 4
OF: 4
RHP: 11
LHP: 5