Yard Goats Announce Opening Day Roster
Hartford Yard Goats Announce 2018 Opening Day RosterColorado Rockies send top prospects to Hartford to start the season
Hartford Yard Goats Announce 2018 Opening Day Roster
Colorado Rockies send top prospects to Hartford to start the season
(Hartford, CT) The Hartford Yard Goats Baseball Club, the Double-A Eastern League affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, announced its 2018 Opening Day Roster. 12 pitchers and 13 position players have been assigned to Hartford, including four of the Rockies top eight prospects listed by Baseball America and 10 of the Rockies top 26 prospects listed by MiLB.com. The Rockies #1 overall prospect, Infielder
In addition, the Yard Goats have three players on the Colorado Rockies 40-Man Major League roster (OF
The Rockies set the roster and are responsible for all the player transactions during the season. The Yard Goats have nine players returning from last year's club, 13 players who are at the Double-A level for the first time and two players who are in their first year in the Rockies' system. The Yard Goats open the 2018 season next Thursday night (April 5) at 7:00 PM against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
2018 Hartford Yard Goats Opening Day Roster
RHP Ryan Castellani (Philadelphia, PA), RHP
Yard Goats Prospect Watch…
INF Brendan Rodgers (#1 Baseball America, #1 MiLB.com) Invited to MLB Spring Training…
The 2018 season is Brendan's fourth as a Colorado Rockies farmhand… Invited to Spring Training as a non-roster player… Played in MLB Futures Game last year in Miami… Class-A All-Star… Split last season between Hartford and Lancaster combining to hit .336 with 26 doubles, 18 home runs, and 64 RBI between High-A and Double-A… Highest ever draft-pick to play for the Yard Goats (3rd overall)... Ranked 4th in entire Rockies system in batting average…
RHP Peter Lambert (#5 Baseball America, #5 MiLB.com) Invited to MLB Spring Training…
The 2018 season is Peter's fourth as a Colorado Rockies farmhand… Spent entire 2017 season at High-A, going 9-8 with a 4.17 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 26 starts for JetHawks in California League… Established career highs in wins, innings pitched and strikeouts… Ranked third in entire Rockies system in strikeouts and fifth in ERA… Ranked 4th in CAL in ERA, innings pitched, Led club in strikeouts, finished second on the club in starts and innings pitched, and fourth in wins…
RHP Ryan Castellani (#6 Baseball America, #8 MiLB.com) Invited to MLB Spring Training…
The 2018 season is Ryan's fifth as a Colorado Rockies farmhand… Spent entire 2017 season in the Yard Goats starting rotation, going 9-12 with a 4.81 ERA in 27 starts in his first season in Eastern League… Led EL in starts (27), innings pitched (157.1) and strikeouts (132)… Tied for team lead in wins and led club in losses… Led Yard Goats in starts, innings, and strikeouts… Finished second in Rockies organization in strikeouts…
INF Garrett Hampson (#8 Baseball America, #7 MiLB.com) Invited to MLB Spring Training
The 2018 season is Garrett's third as a Colorado Rockies farmhand… Spent entire 2017 season at High-A Lancaster batting .326 with 24 doubles, 12 triples, 8 home runs, 70 RBI and 51 stolen bases in 127 games with the JetHawks in only his second season of professional baseball… Ranked second in entire Rockies system in stolen bases and 6th in organization in batting average… Led CAL with 113 runs scored and 12 triples… Ranked second in CAL with a .326 batting average (behind teammate Yonathan Daza), 51 stolen bases (behind teammate Wes Rogers), 174 hits (behind teammate Yonathan Daza) and 533 at-bats (behind teammate Sam Hilliard)… Ranked third in CAL and led club with a .387 on-base percentage… Ranked 4th in CAL in total bases (246)… Hit safely in 14 consecutive games, June 4-June 22, batting .383 with 12 RBI over stretch… Reached base safely in 22 straight games, April 24-May 18… Helped JetHawks lead league with a .308 batting average, 867 runs, 1519 hits, 2285 total bases and 788 RBI…
OF Sam Hilliard (#12 MiLB.com) Invited to MLB Spring Training…
The 2018 season is Sam's fourth as a Colorado Rockies farmhand… Spent entire 2017 season at High-A Lancaster and batted .300 with 23 doubles, 7 triples, 21 home runs, 92 RBI and 37 stolen bases in California League… Ranked 8th in CAL in batting average, second in RBI, games and total bases, third in hits, stolen bases and runs scored… Tied for first in entire Rockies system with 92 RBI (Jordan Patterson) and finished second in system with 21 home runs… Established career highs in games, at-bats, runs, hits, home runs, RBI, and stolen bases… In 2016, tied for South Atlantic League lead in RBI and finished in top 10 in circuit in games, runs, home runs, stolen bases and slugging percentage…
RHP Jesus Tinoco (#14 MiLB.com) Currently on Rockies 40-man Major League Roster…
Acquired by Rockies in July, 2015 along with Jose Reyes,
1B Brian Mundell (#18 MiLB.com) Invited to MLB Spring Training
The 2018 season is Brian's fourth as a Colorado Rockies farmhand… Split last season between High-A Lancaster and Double-A Hartford, combining to bat .300 with 28 doubles, 15 home runs and 78 RBI… Was a California League All-Star and was leading the CAL with 59 RBI, tied for second with 12 home runs, second with 133 total bases and ranked third in circuit in slugging percentage (.504) and extra base hits (29) upon his promotion... In 2016, set a minor league record with 59 doubles en-route to being named the South Atlantic League MVP...
OF Yonathan Daza (#20 MiLB.com) Currently on Rockies 40-man Major League Roster
Pronunciation: YAHN-a-thon DAH-za
The 2018 season is Yonathan's eighth as a Colorado Rockies farmhand… Spent entire 2017 season at High-A Lancaster batting .341 with 34 doubles, 11 triples, 3 home runs, 87 RBI, 31 stolen bases and scored 93 runs… Led California League in batting and hits (177), T-2nd in triples, ranked 4th in doubles, 5th runs scored, and 4th in at-bats… Led entire Rockies system in hits and ranked 3rd in organization in batting and 4th in RBI…
C Dom Nunez (#22 MiLB.com) Invited to MLB Spring Training
The 2018 season is Dom's sixth as a Colorado Rockies farmhand… Spent entire 2017 season with the Yard Goats and batted .202 with 10 doubles, 11 home runs and 28 RBI in 95 games in his first season in the Eastern League… Was catcher in team-high 88 games… Blasted two homers, June 23 @ Altoona… Batted .271 in 20 games in month of August…
OF Wes Rogers (#26 MiLB.com)
The 2018 season is Wes' fifth as a Colorado Rockies farmhand… Rockies' minor league stolen base leader during each of the past three seasons… Spent entire 2017 season at High-A Lancaster, batting .319 with 37 doubles, 7 triples, 9 home runs, 82 RBI and 70 stolen bases in 123 games with JetHawks, his first in the California League… Led CAL and entire Rockies organization in stolen bases and tied for league lead in doubles, Ranked 4th in batting and runs (94), and 5th with a .377 on-base percentage… Ranked 8th in Rockies system in batting and 5th in RBI… Reached base safely in 26 consecutive games, June 15-July 15… Established career highs, in batting, runs, hits, doubles, home runs, RBI and stolen bases… Enters 2018 season with 181 career stolen bases…
C Chris Robago Currently on Rockies 40-man Major League Roster
Pronounced: rah-BAH-go
The 2018 season is Chris' fifth as a Colorado Rockies farmhand… Was added to the Rockies 40-man roster in November… Spent entire 2017 season at High-A Lancaster, batting .272 with 18 doubles, 8 triples, one home run and 43 RBI in 89 games with JetHawks… Also batted .272 in 2016 at Low-A Asheville… Caught club high 86 games and ranked third on team in triples…
RHP Craig Schlitter (Guilford, CT native)
The 2018 season is Craig's fifth as a Colorado Rockies farmhand… Was born in Guilford, Connecticut which is 32 miles south of Hartford… Split last season between High-A Lancaster where he was a CAL All-Star and Hartford… Went 10-1 with a 2.50 ERA in 15 starts for JetHawks… Upon promotion, was leading CAL in wins and ERA and ranked 4th on circuit in innings (90.0) and BAA (.244)… Finished 1-3 with a 10.54 ERA in 9 games (8 starts) for Yard Goats in his first season in the Eastern League… Established career highs in wins, innings and strikeouts in his first season as a starting pitcher…
Yard Goats by the State
California (7)
Colorado (1)
Connecticut (1)
Florida (2)
Illinois (1)
Kansas (1)
Maryland (1)
Nevada (1)
New Jersey (1)
New York (1)
Ohio (1)
Pennsylvania (1)
South Carolina (1)
Texas (2)
Virginia (1)
Venezuela (3)