Two months before the season even started, the Colorado Rockies made one of the best moves for 2026 and, hopefully, beyond.
That’s when the Colorado front office brought in a promising first baseman named TJ Rumfield — a prospect who’d never played in MLB — from the New York Yanakees for right-hander Angel Chivilli.
Entering Friday’s series with the Cleveland Guardians, Rumfield leads the Rockies in rWAR at 3.0. He is tied for second in doubles (25), third in RBI (60), tied for fourth in homers (13),
and his line puts him among team leaders in every category: .292./372/.447 with an .820 OPS.
His eye at the plate is a key part of his effectiveness. Rumfield leads the team in walks with 48 (9.7% walk rate), while registering an extremely low strikeout rate of 14.3% (71 strikeouts in 497 plate appearances). All of his numbers are making him a strong candidate for the National League Rookie of the Year. He already won NL Rookie of the Month for May and June.
There’s no doubt that Rumfield is an excellent hitter, but a new stat from Statcast also could reveal more about his defense.
He’s an above-average defender by the basic stats as he’s only committed three errors in 893.1 innings. The 26-year-old Rumfield leads the Rockies in 10 defensive runs saved. In addition, Rumfield’s outs above average is tied with Atlanta’s Matt Olson with an MLB-leading six. He also has a Fielding Run Value of six.
Here’s one example of his skills on the right side of the infield.
As the first baseman, it’s no surprise that he leads the team in putouts at 826. However, a new stat gives more insight into how well a first baseman is able to catch the throws that come his way.
Until now, fans didn’t have many options to measure how well a first baseman receives throws. There are scoops, which record how many times first basemen catch throws in the dirt, but the stat doesn’t capture total scoop attempts. Instead, fans mostly used their eyeballs to gauge a player’s Go-Go-Gadget-like abilities to catch high, wide and low throws, indicating whether or not a first baseman was above-average at their position.
The new Statcast metric, simply called first base receiving, is calculated to factor in expected catches for on-target throws as well as those that make the first baseman reach, in addition to the speed of the runner. According to Baseball Savant, “Each throw from 2B/SS/3B is given an out probability based on inputs including throw location (high/low, wide/on-target, bounce/in-air), runner speed on play, and runner location from first base at the point the 1B catches the ball. Only throws within an 8 foot perimeter of the 1B bag are considered in the model.”
Here’s a look at the visual:
Rumfield’s two receiving outs above average puts him in a five-way tie for eighth, five behind MLB leader Alec Burleson of St. Louis. Rumfield is tied for first on one of the factors that makes up the stat — height, which makes sense with his 6-foot-5 frame.
Baseball Savant has the stat going back to 2021, which gives us a chance to look at how Rumfield measures up against the Rockies other first basemen over the last five years. While Rumfield’s sample size is small, with just 107 games at first in his rookie campaign, it’s interesting to see how he stacks up against the main first basemen in Colorado for the last few seasons: Michael Toglia, Elehuris Montero and CJ Cron.
While this is a new stat and Toglia, Montero and Cron have different seasons to compare, the thing that jumps out from this table is the variance from year to year. In 2021, Cron had a four receiving OAA, but the next year he was at -2. Toglia jumped from zero in 2024 to three in 2025. Montero is the only consistent player who had one in both his seasons at first in Colorado.
For the average expected out rate calculation, a ground ball that is thrown right on the money is 0.99, like this throw from Kyle Karros in March against Miami.
A throw that is hard to reach or scoop could measure a 0.01, like this one from Willi Castro on Aug. 4 against Tampa Bay.
For bounce, scoops, low, high and wide, going off a baseline of zero, positive numbers are obviously more favorable than negative. To better understand how high is high and how low is low, as well as the difference between a bounce and a scoop, here’s a diagram.
It helps to have examples to compare it to. Here’s a table with the receiving OAA leader Burleson, 2025 Gold Glove winner Matt Olson, and outfield convert Bryce Harper, who is in last place in ROAA.
However, if you look at the cumulative stats from 2021-2026, Olson is second at 28 ROAA, just behind Freddie Freeman’s 29. So far, ROAA seems to be a stat that can fluctuate from year-to-year and might be best assessed with multiple years of data. Like WAR, it also accumulates over time with greater potential to increase and heavily favors longevity.
In terms of a lifelong baseball career, Rumfield is relatively new to first base. Rumfield was the third-ranked third baseman in the state of Texas as a high schooler before moving to the other side of the infield. He switched to DH and 1B in college at Virginia Tech, where he redshirted in 2019, had a shortened season in 2020 and only played one full year of college ball.
The Phillies drafted him in the 12th round of the 2021 MLB Draft and traded Rumfield to the Yankees later that year. As he worked his way through the minors, Rumfield played 364 games at first base and 63 as DH. All of this is to say that Rumfield could be the type of player who gets better and better at first base, especially with more and more MLB experience.
While ROAA is just one factor in a first baseman’s fielding, if Rumfield is the first baseman of the Rockies future, it will be an interesting number to keep an eye on.
On the farm
Triple-A: Las Vegas Aviators 10, Albuquerque Isotopes 7 (11)
The Isotopes carried a 6-4 lead into the ninth inning, but the Aviators rallied back to tie it in the ninth and then win it in the 11th. Jose Cordova hit a solo homer, doubled and walked, Charlie Condon added two hits and scored a run, Ryan Ritter also pitched in two hits, while also driving in two and scoring one and Sterlin Thompson scored two runs on two walks and one hit. Roc Riggio and Nic Kent each chipped in sac flies. After Las Vegas took a 7-6 lead in the top of the 10th, but Kent scored on a passed ball to send the game to the 11th. That’s when Aviator Brayan Buelvas hit a two-run triple, which ended up being the game-winner.
Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats vs. Somerset Patriots, Postponed
Weather made this one a late scratch, but it will be made up on Friday as part of a doubleheader.
High-A: Hillsboro Hops 9, Spokane Indians 0
Spokane was out-hit 9-3 and gave up all nine runs in the fourth and fifth in a shutout loss on Thursday. On the bright side, Gabriel Hughes entered the game in the seventh and tossed three scoreless, hitless innings with five strikeouts. Jacob Hinderleider doubled, Tommy Hopfe and Robert Calaz each singled and the Indians drew three walks while striking out six times in the loss.
Low-A: Fresno Grizzlies 10, Stockton Ports 8
When Cort MacDonald tripled on a line drive to right field to score Daniel Jackson and Juan Martinez in the eighth inning, the runs put the Grizzlies up 10-7. In the end, that was enough to win the high-scoring game in the Rockies lone affiliate victory of the night on Thursday. On the night, MacDonald went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, while Daniel Jackson went 3-for-3 with a homer, a double, two RBIs, three runs scored and two walks. Ronny Ugarte scored two runs and drove in another two. All in all, Fresno combined for 15 hits.
The Purple Row Mailbag: August 2026 | Purple Row
Purple Row’s Skyler Timmins takes questions from the Purple Row community from all over the world about Rockies prospects, Ezequiel Tovar, front office operations, Rockies fans origin stories and more.
Everything you need to know about 2026 MLB Players’ Weekend | MLB.com
Celebrating players’ personalities and lives off the field, MLB Players’ Weekend will be back in action this weekend. Friday will showcase the players’ off-field interests, Saturday will highlight causes players are supporting and Sunday will feature players’ appreciation of the people who helped them reach The Show. The content will be on social media, local broadcasts and MLB Network throughout the weekend.
Rockies legend Larry Walker statue unveiling | 9News
The bigger news this weekend for Rockies fans will happen when the organization reveals the statue for Hall of Famer Larry Walker on Sunday. The statue will be located outside of Coors Field at the corner of 20th and Blake Street.
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