Paul DePodesta discusses promotions and Rockies prospects

Paul DePodesta sits in the Purple Row at Coors Field. | Colorado Rockies On Sunday, June 7, 2025, Colorado Rockies president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta spoke with media to provide an assessment of where the organization is now. The conversation was lengthy and covered a variety of topics,

What is the story about?

On Sunday, June 7, 2025, Colorado Rockies president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta spoke with media to provide an assessment of where the organization is now.

The conversation was lengthy and covered a variety of topics, including the importance of plate discipline and pitching challenges among other topics. This article focuses on DePodesta’s comments about what the Rockies are looking for prior to promoting players and some of the organization’s top prospects.

Some comments that have been

lightly edited for clarity.

Promoting prospects

Promotion philosophy

We want to make sure they have a certain sort of foundation in order to be successful at the next level, so it’s not always just about their surface-level stats.

I think with every guy that hasn’t moved yet — and especially like I said, around now, because this is about the time we’re going to start to move some players — there may be one specific thing where, “Hey, the rest of their game is in really good shape, but hey, there’s one other thing we need you to do just a little bit better to make sure that you’re in good shape to be successful at the next level.”

We think those guys could move now and certainly survive, and they’d sort of figure it out. We’d rather them not have to go through those struggles at the next level.

I’ll just use an example. Maybe it would be the best way to talk about is Sterlin Thompson (No. 13 PuRP).

So, Sterlin was in Triple-A last year. We added him to the roster. He’s continued to get better and better defensively. We saw that in spring training, and certainly saw that through the beginning of the year in Albuquerque. But what really changed with him was just the process of his at-bats. He had very good numbers last year in Triple-A, but I think the sort of underlying numbers weren’t quite as strong.

And then, really, about mid-April this year, he just locked in, and for the next six weeks or so, the process of each one of his at-bats was as good as anybody in Triple-A, and I think that gave us conviction that he was ready to come up here and face the next challenge.

So I think that’s really what it is, more than anything else. It isn’t necessarily their outcomes: It’s really about the process.

And that could be on the mound, too.

Seth Halvorsen was another example. We just wanted to see a little more in-zone pre-2K because his stuff is filthy. It certainly plays at this level, but the more he can get ahead, the more dangerous he’ll be. When he went down to Triple-A, he did exactly that and really controlled those [at-bats], got ahead, put guys away. We brought him back here to hopefully do the same.

Zac Veen (No. 9 PuRP)

I’m really encouraged by Zac’s progress.

I think he’s really swung the bat well, aggressive on the bases, hitting for power. He’s done some damage against left-handed pitching, which has been great to see. I think just him, right now, getting everyday at-bats and having that confidence has been terrific. He got off to a little bit of a slow start, but we had full confidence that this is, hopefully, what we were going to see through the course of the year. And I think the last three, four weeks, he’s really been outstanding.

Yeah, potentially (he will be promoted soon). I think it’s about opportunity. I think for all of our players down there, some of it is about timing. It’s that you need to be playing well, and then there needs to be an opportunity.

Sometimes, like I said, they’ll sort of force their way on, but we’ve certainly had enough injuries that some opportunities have created themselves. But I think more often than not, it’s just a matter of timing for some of these guys. But glad to see how well he’s doing, and he’s certainly on the radar.

I think he seems to be doing well [with his recovery]. I haven’t been there in a little while. I’m hoping to get there here in the next week or two. I think Josh [Byrnes] was just there these last few days and probably had some more time to spend with him, but all the reports that I’ve gotten are that he’s doing pretty well.

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I think [Veen’s plate discipline] has been huge. In spring training, I think if everybody remembers, he had a couple monster shots — walk-off shots that end games — we knew that was in there. You can’t necessarily try to do that on every single pitch in the big leagues, right? So we wanted to see that discipline, have him grind out at-bats, really make the pitcher sweat every time. Because also, when he gets on base, he’s a threat to steal [and that] really makes him a multi-dimensional player when he can do that. So I think that’s been a big part of his progress over the last month.

Cole Carrigg (No. 4 PuRP)

I think [Carrigg’s up-and-down performance] is just the natural ebb and flow of a season. There are times where he’s been white hot over the course of a couple weeks, but I think even right now — when he hasn’t been as productive as he was at the highest level a month or so ago — he’s still been very productive. He’s still managing to get on base, he’s still getting some extra-base hits, he is dynamic defensively, he’s getting some more time at shortstop, so I think all of that’s positive. But I think that’s just again the natural ebb and flow of the season.

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[His ability to play center field] was probably even one of the appeals when they drafted him. It’s pretty exceptional athleticism, which is also why he’s now playing shortstop and doing other things. But we definitely think he can handle center field in the big leagues.

Adael Amador

He’s always had great plate discipline. He’s had years where he had more walks than strike outs, which was great.

We wanted to be able to ideally see him combine that with a little more damage, and I think he was trying to do that early in the season, but really ultimately now has come back to, “Hey, this is who I am in terms of that plate discipline,” giving him a good chance of success every time he’s up there.

The defensive versatility, I think, is really important. When you play one position — if that starting spot isn’t available in the big leagues — then you’re limited as a role player because there’s only one spot you can play.

I mean, you look at our bench right now. These guys can sort of play all over the place, and I think it’s really important, especially with the makeup of our team, so it’s not just with Amador.

I think with all of our players, you saw the experimentation in spring training. Carrigg, right now, playing shortstop. We played Chad Stevens everywhere, and we’ve done it. Ryan Ritter was playing everywhere, playing in the outfield.

Amador’s athletic. He can run. We feel like there are some other things he can do. He’s played on the left side of the infield earlier in his minor-league career, so we just want to want to sort of expand his repertoire a little bit and see what he might be capable of because I think offensively, there are things he does that I think would fit really well at the major-league level, but if second base is taken, it just makes it harder to really utilize his offensive skill set.

Pitchers

I think we’re actually starting to make some moves in the minor leagues in general, not just with our starting pitching, but sort of a crossing. It’s that time of year — we’re about two months in. Eiberson Castellano made his first start last night in Triple-A. He had done really, really well in Double-A, had a terrific start last night, went six shutout in his first Triple-A game.

Jake Brooks has been really good in Double-A. I think he probably has a chance to move here pretty soon.

Konner Eaton (No. 19 PuRP) has pitched well, so I think all those guys in Double-A, could certainly at some point through the course of this year find their way to Triple-A, and then who knows?

Among the Triple-A staff, we’ve just had trouble staying healthy, and a lot of those guys have been here. Sean Sullivan (No. 8 PuRP) is pitching again today — he’s a starter today. I think he missed just his last start, so excited to get him back on the mound.

Possible lockout

DePodesta was asked about the possible effect is of the coming MLB-MLBPA labor conflict.

Question: Is the potential of a lockout next year impacting any roster decisions at this point?

DePodesta: No.

Closing thoughts

This was an exchange that covered considerable ground. Look for Purple Row to discuss more of DePodesta’s comments in the coming days.

On the farm

Triple-A: Salt Lake Bees 10, Albuquerque Isotopes 9

It was another wild game for the Isotopes.

Despite a five-run third inning in which Zac Veen and Charlie Condon delivered back-to-back home runs, and a 10-strikeout performance from starting pitcher Sean Sullivan, the Albuquerque Isotopes were unable to hold onto a late 9-6 lead and fell 10-9 to the Salt Lake Bees on Sunday night in Utah.

With the Bees trailing 9-8 heading into the bottom of the eighth, Bryce Teodosio led off the frame with a home run. The go-ahead run later scored after Yolmer Sanchez’s ground ball went under Condon’s glove at first base. Albuquerque dropped four of six games in the series and now sit in fourth place, 4.0 games behind first-place Sacramento with 12 games remaining in the first half of the MiLB season.

Double-A: Portland Sea Dogs 3, Hartford Yard Goats 1

The Yard Goats got on the board early as an Aidan Longwell single brought home Roc Reggio to score. However, that would be it for the offense. In the bottom of the fourth, Ronald Rosario homered on a fly ball to right center field tying the game.

In the fifth inning, Ahbram Liendo hit a RBI single to score Nelly Taylor and give the Sea Dogs (BOS) a 2-1 lead. Then Brooks Brannon homered in the bottom of the eighth to give Portland a 3-1 lead.

The Yard Goats had one run on seven hits. They walked twice and struck out 12 times, unable to figure out righty Gage Ziehl, who struck out eight.

As for the Yard Goats, starter Jake Brooks lasted five innings, allowing two runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out three.

High-A: Hillsboro Hops 12, Spokane Indians 0

It was a tough day for the Indians, who lost by two touchdowns to the Hops (AZ). While they did muster eight hits — only Jack O’Dowd and Max Belyeu (No. 15 PuRP) went hitless — they just weren’t able to plate anyone. They also only struck out four times as a team. The only player to record multiple hits, though, was Jacob Humphrey, who went 2-for-4.

On the pitching side, Tyler Hampu was the only one to put up zeroes and now allow a home run. Jordy Vargas (No. 21 PuRP) started the game, and only lasted three innings after giving up five runs on five hits with one home run, two walks and four strikeouts. He was relieved by Bryan Perez, who only gave up two runs on four hits with a walk and a home run over 2.2 innings. Hunter Omlid took the brunt of it, giving up seven runs (six earned) on seven hits with one strikeout and a homer in 1.2 innings.

It was just overall a day to forget in Spokane.

Single-A: Lake Elsinore Storm 7, Fresno Grizzlies 5 (F/11)

It was a back-and-forth affair in Fresno, but the Grizzlies ended up falling just short in extras. The Storm (SD) took an early 1-0 lead in the second, but Ashly Andujar (No. 20 PuRP) struck back in the second with an RBI single to score Luis Mendez, who started off the inning with a sharp double. The Storm struck again in the fifth with a Ryan Wideman homer, but Jesus Freitez scored Andujar in the bottom half to tie the score again, 2-2.

The Storm scored again in the sixth and seventh, but a sac fly by Yeiker Reyes scored Kyle Fossum, who walked two batters earlier, and then Roldy Brito (No. 11 PuRP) singled to score Freitez and level the score again. The game ended regulation at 4-4, but then things got weird in extras.

In the 10th, Luke Cantwell singled to put Lake Elsinore up 5-4. In the bottom half, Fossum singled to score Jeremy Ciriaco and level the game. In the 11th, a wild pitch scored Conner Westenburg and a single by Jose Verdugo scored Kerrington Cross, who had stolen second base. Unfortunately, the Grizzlies were not able to capitalize in the bottom of the inning and the final score was 7-5.

Every single Grizzlies hitter had at least one hit except for Ciriaco, and Andujar and Freitez each had multiple. The Grizzlies struck out 11 times, but also walked seven times.

On the pitching side, only four of the seven runs were earned. Both of Angel Jimenez’s runs were earned, but only one of Yanzel Correa’s two and one of Easton Marks’ due to the extra-inning rules. Dylan Crooks pitched two scoreless innings.

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