If a baseball season is a marathon, then a solid baseball career would be at least three ultramarathons.
That makes trying to assess Cole Carrigg’s Major League career — one that consists of 48 at-bats in 14 games — a little like judging a 300-mile race by the first two miles.
That being said, Carrigg is off to an amazing start.
Entering Friday’s series opener in Minnesota against the Twins, Carrigg (No. 4 PuRP) is batting .271/.379/.542 with a .921 OPS. He’s recorded 13 hits, including three homers,
two doubles and a triple, with 11 RBI, nine runs scored and one stolen base with eight walks and 12 strikeouts.
Listening to the Rockies come-from-behind win on Wednesday on KOA Radio, color commentator Zach Goodman made an excellent point about the No. 65-overall pick of the 2023 MLB Draft. By providing big hits with runners on — such as an RBI single with two outs in the seventh to cut Boston’s lead to 6-4 and an RBI double to give the Rockies an insurance run to put Colorado up 8-6 in the eighth — Goodman said that Carrigg has the “clutch gene.”
It’s a great phrase, and it’s true.
So far, Carrigg seems to be the player you want at the plate when you need something to happen. He was responsible for driving in three of the Rockies eight runs in Wednesday’s game. His RBI single in the seventh not only drove in a run, but furthered the rally, allowing Jake McCarthy to come to the plate and drive in one of his own to cut the Red Sox lead to 6-5.
After Wednesday’s win, Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer verified Carrigg’s ability to come through in the clutch.
“That’s so hard to do. That’s off [Tyron] Guerrero — extremely hard to do. It is difficult with two outs, two strikes, and to get a knock like that with the adjustability in his swing,” Schaeffer said. “You see it with TJ [Rumfield] all the time and Cole has it too. And then again in the eighth with the big two-RBI double. You know that about Cole coming in that he’s not scared of anything and that shows. That’s all mentality. That’s all that is — mentality and compete — and he’s got it.”
In a postgame interview with Goodman, the rookie revealed more when asked if he just always has a steady heartbeat under pressure.
“I don’t know if it’s ever slow in those situations, but I feel confident in myself and in my teammates,” Carrigg said. “I just want to do whatever I can to help the team.”
Carrigg’s adaptability is also a huge bonus with a new front office and coaching staff that values versatility. A switch-hitter with the ability to play nearly every position on the field (at San Diego State University, Carrigg played everything except first base, including relief pitcher), Carrigg has spent most of his time in center field for Colorado. However, he’s also played three innings at shortstop and has the potential to provide a solid glove anywhere on the field in addition to his line-up boosting bat.
While the Rockies have seen breakout performances from young players in recent years like Hunter Goodman last season, Brenton Doyle in 2024 and Nolan Jones in 2023, they haven’t really had the clutch, go-to-hitter since Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story were run-scoring machines in 2015-2019.
In his third MLB season at age 24, which is the same age Carrigg is at now, Arenado had his breakout year with 130 RBI (largely due to his 42 homers). Only in his rookie season, Carrigg is reminding Rockies fans of what it might look like to have a trustworthy bat that thrives with runners on base. Since debuting on June 9, Carrigg is tied for sixth among position players on the Rockies roster with a 0.3 bWAR.
The Rockies haven’t had a rookie drive in over 100 runs since Story did it in 2018 at age 25.
Not debuting until well after two months into the season, Carrigg, obviously, won’t be able to break that streak. But he could be in the Arenado camp of building toward it.
Just 17 days into his rookie campaign, Carrigg will be tested by the MLB grind and facing really good pitching day in and day out. But it’s still fun to dream that the Rockies could actually have a big bat from a promising prospect become a reality.
On the Farm
Triple-A: Albuquerque Isotopes 8, Salt Lake Bees 1
Gabriel Hughes (No. 12 PuRP) recorded a fantastic start, striking out six and only allowing two hits and one walk in six shutout innings to improve to 2-1 on the season and help the Isotopes beat the Bees on Thursday night. TJ Shook and Jeff Criswell each added a scoreless inning in relief, while Andrew Baker gave up one run in the ninth to finish the game.
Zac Veen (No. 9 PuRP) and Charlie Condon. (No. 1 PuRP) each hit solo homers, which helped Albuquerque jump out to a 2-0 lead after four innings. In the seventh, the Isoptopes put up a six-spot to seal the victory. It started when Jose Cordova drew a one-out walk, stole second and got to third on a passed ball. Veen drove him home on a fielder’s choice and then came around to score on a Brenton Doyle double. Jordan Beck, who also added a triple and a double in the game, then walked before Sterlin Thompson singled in Doyle to make it 5-0. Charlie Condon followed with a run-scoring single. Vimael Machín then got lucky by reaching on a fielding error that scored one and Chad Stevens grounded out to plate Condon to make it 8-0.
Double-A: Portland Sea Dogs 7, Hartford Yard Goats 1
Portland scored three runs in the second and added four more in the third to put this one away early. Jake Brooks was hit hard, giving up all seven runs on 10 hits with one strikeout and one walk in five innings. In the seventh inning, Braylen Wimmer hit a solo shot, his first of the year, to account for Hartford’s scoring. Andy Perez added two hits and Bryant Betancourt chipped in a double for the Yard Goats.
High-A: Tri-City Dust Devils 7, Spokane Indians 4
A three-run seventh inning wasn’t enough for Spokane to pull off the comeback on Thursday night. Tommy Hopfe hit an RBI single in the first inning to put the Indians up 1-0, but it didn’t last long. By the fifth inning Tri-City was up 5-1. In the seventh, Ethan Hedges hit an RBI single, Kelvin Hidalgo scored on a balk and Hopfe drove in his second run of the game with a bases-loaded walk, but that concluded the scoring for Spokane. Hopfe finished with three hits while Kevin Fitzer added two.
Low-A: Fresno Grizzlies 8, Lake Elsinore Storm 7
Fresno scored in six of the first seven innings, building up enough runs to fend off a five-run seventh inning from the Storm to hold on to the win. Kyle Fussom hit a two-run homer, Roldy Brito tripled, singled, scored two runs and drove in another and Wilder Dalis doubled, singled and drove in a run as Freson out-hit Lake Elsinore 11-4.
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