As the Rockies wrestle against a losing skid that dropped them into the National League West cellar, their list of available reinforcements is dwindling. Two of their top prospects — lefty starter Ryan Rolison and third baseman Colton Welker — will undergo shoulder surgery in the coming weeks, likely ending their seasons, multiple club sources confirmed to The Athletic on Thursday.
Rolison, 24, the Rockies’ top pitching prospect, suffered a left shoulder strain during spring training and was shut down in early April. He was put on the Rockies’ 60-day injured list and has not yet pitched this season. His injury, the Rockies believe, exists somewhere at the biceps head, near Rolison’s shoulder. They will not know the extent of his injury until surgery is performed later this month.
Last season, Rolison made just 10 starts at Triple-A Albuquerque, after a ruptured appendix kept him out to start the year and a broken hand suffered when an errant fly ball hit him in the outfield during batting practice sidelined him again during his rehab.
A first-round pick in 2018, Rolison is ranked as the Rockies’ No. 4 prospect, according to The Athletic’s Keith Law, with some deceptive cross-body breaking balls. The 6-foot-2, 215-pound lefty was put on Colorado’s 40-man roster in November, expecting to be a rotation depth piece this season. After pitching for Tigres del Licey in the Dominican Winter League, Rolison entered spring training as, essentially, the Rockies’ No. 6 starter, behind Germán Márquez, Kyle Freeland, Antonio Senzatela, Austin Gomber and Chad Kuhl.
Instead, Ryan Feltner, 25, has bounded up the Rockies’ ranks. Right-hander Peter Lambert was also held back by injury, a forearm strain that popped up in his comeback from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery.
Now the Rockies are tissue-thin on pitching depth. After Rolison and Lambert, Helcris Olivarez (No. 10 prospect) was put on the 60-day IL in late May with a shoulder strain. Sam Weatherly (No. 7) and Chris McMahon (No. 14) are also injured and not pitching. The next available backup starting pitcher on the Rockies roster will probably come from their bullpen, between long arms Ty Blach (in the majors) and Ashton Goudeau (in Triple A). Among the pitchers in Albuquerque’s rotation, only one has an ERA below 6.00, 27-year-old swingman Brandon Gold.
Because Rolison’s surgery will reveal the extent of his injury, the Rockies hope, they do not yet know his timeline for return.
Welker’s injury in the left shoulder is more clear. He suffered the same kind of shoulder impingement in the labrum that sent Brendan Rodgers into surgery in 2019. For Rodgers, now the Rockies’ primary second baseman, his July surgery ended his season. In 2019, Welker was the Rockies’ No. 2-ranked prospect behind only Rodgers.
Welker, 24, will undergo surgery next week and likely will not return this season, although the Rockies hope he can be healthy enough to appear in the Arizona Fall League.
In essence, Welker will miss a third consecutive season. His 2020 washed away in the pandemic. In 2021, the league suspended him for 80 games after he tested positive for a steroid commonly known as oral Turinabol. He was called up late last season to the Rockies and appeared in 19 games, hitting .189 in 40 plate appearances.
“I felt very confident out there last year,” Welker said in January. “I definitely have more in the tank, which I’m hoping to show everybody.”
In Welker’s absence, Elehuris Montero, the Rockies’ No. 5 prospect, has moved ahead on Colorado’s depth chart of corner infielders. The 23-year-old has 11 home runs in 45 games at Triple A this season after hitting 28 over two levels last season. Montero debuted May 1 as a designated hitter and went 2-for-4 against the Reds at Coors Field before his quick return to the minors.
After Montero, the Rockies’ next-best corner infield prospect is 20-year-old Warming Bernabel, ranked No. 8. But like so many of the Rockies’ promising young players, he is years away from reaching the major leagues and is playing in Low-A Fresno.
The Rockies entered Thursday 10 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West and a game behind the Diamondbacks for fourth place. No reasonable amount of deadline trades, it seems, could backfill the Rockies’ missing pitching depth. And with longer injuries to Weatherly, McMahon and Olivarez, their depth for next season is fraying, too.
Colorado’s 5.16 ERA among starters ranked fourth worst in the majors going into Thursday and will only fall after Gomber gave up nine runs on 10 hits over five innings in a 13-6 loss to the Braves at Coors Field. What was once a promising young rotation in Colorado — perhaps the best homegrown rotation in their history — is in trouble.
(Photo of Ryan Rolison in 2020: Isaiah J. Downing / USA Today)