MILWAUKEE -- If this season at Triple-A Albuquerque is a test of maturity for Ryan Vilade, the Rockies’ No. 4 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, he has been checking the correct boxes.

At 22 and without a day of Double-A experience, Vilade has not allowed himself to be blinded by the bright lights of the Majors -- which are just a phone call away. Instead, Vilade has kept his attention on learning the outfield corners, after previously playing the infield, and has focused more on at-bat quality and on-base performance rather than trying to impress the higher-ups with power (which hasn’t arrived, but there is reason to believe his 6-foot-2, 226-pound frame will produce it).

The education he is receiving at Triple-A leaves little time to dream about graduating to the Majors.

“In this league, the average age is 27, 28,” said Vilade, hitting .270 with two home runs and a .341 on-base percentage through 40 games. “It’s a lot of guys who are trying to get back to the big leagues and organizations’ top guys who are getting there. My last level was High-A [in 2019, at Lancaster], where it was a lot of guys in their first or second year of pro ball.

“So these guys have been around. They know how to pitch. They know how to play. They’re very mature, which I’m trying to get better at as a player, myself.”

Albuquerque manager Warren Schaeffer has put Vilade on a methodical plan, batting him leadoff through the early part of the season before moving him to the heart of the order recently.

It turns out that Vilade -- from the same Stillwater (Okla.) High School program that produced beloved Rockies star Matt Holliday -- hit at the top of the order in high school and lower in the Minors. Batting leadoff has allowed Vilade to show his solid speed -- he has nine doubles, a triple and five steals at Triple-A -- and work on a plan that he hopes will work no matter where he bats in a lineup.

“There are a lot of veteran arms that are very smart on the mound, so I’m just learning pitch-to-pitch on what they want to do, and making sure my approach is good and sticking with it,” he said. “As the season goes on, you have to continue to have good at-bats, make hard contact and not worry about the hits. When you start chasing hits, you’ll get in a bad spot.

“One of my goals is to be the hardest out, you know, on the team -- don’t strike out too much and make hard contact.”

The Rockies introduced Vilade to the outfield in instructional ball a couple of years ago, and have accelerated the plan by playing him in both outfield corners.

“He’s fresh -- he’s brand new -- but the type of kid he is, he’s worked hard and he wants it so bad that it’s not going to take long,” Schaeffer said. “It’s the thing he knows he needs to get better at, and he's getting after it.”

Vilade went without a home run until going deep twice this month. In their history, the Rockies saw players such as Holliday and Todd Helton not find their power until right as their Major League careers were beginning.

“It’s a real cool thing to be a call away from the big leagues,” said Vilade, son of Marlins scout James Vilade. “But for right now, I always say the big time is where you are.”

“I'm always going to stay aggressive early in the count, especially [since] that first pitch of the game usually is a heater. So just try and be ready for that first best fastball [and] making sure it's my pitch. And then just trying to do what you can to get on base and let [the other team] know we have a very powerful lineup.”