Ryan Ritter Eyes Bounceback Season in 2025

At first glance, Ryan Ritter accomplished little in the Arizona Fall League.

He missed a lot of time due to back soreness, so he was unable to play second base as much as he and the Rockies hoped. And seeking an offensive groove that proved elusive after an injury followed by a slump disrupted the last month and a half of his 2024 season, Ritter finished with a bizarre slash line, unusual enough to practically defy belief.

The Rockies designated Ritter as their priority player in the Fall League. All 30 organizations make such a selection. The priority player, by design, is in the lineup very often. It’s a way for each organization to further the development of one of its prospects.

The Rockies wanted Ritter, 24, to get ample time at second base, where his experience is limited. He’s a very good shortstop, but Ezequiel Tovar, 23, is entrenched at that position for the Rockies after two full seasons in the Majors. He won a Gold Glove last season and led the team in hits (176), doubles (45), home runs (26) and RBI (78). Tovar is signed through 2030 with the Rockies holding an option for 2031.

If Ritter, who will be in Major League Spring Training as a non-roster invitee for the second straight year, is going to be a big league regular with the Rockies, it will likely be at second base.

Second base is up for grabs. The Rockies non-tendered Brendan Rodgers after last season. He had been their regular second baseman the past four years when healthy and won a Gold Glove in 2022. But Rodgers, 28, never developed into a consistent offensive player. His career OPS+ is 90.

The Rockies signed free agent Thairo Estrada to replace Rodgers at second base. But for how long? Estrada, who turns 29 on February 22, will be trying to rebound from a 2024 season with the Giants that was marred by wrist and thumb injuries.

He is signed for this year with a mutual option for 2026. If Estrada is a placeholder at second base for a year or two, Ritter could be a candidate to replace him. So could Adael Amador.

Amador is coming off a disappointing 2024 season at Double-A Hartford where he was the team’s primary second baseman. Amador hit .230/.343/.376 — curiously with more home runs (14) than doubles (12) — last year but had to sprint to reach that modest level. On August 1, he was hitting .208/.339/.341.

Amador, motivated after a tough 2024, took the initiative after the season to play in games in the Rockies’ instructional league program in the Dominican Republic. During the offseason, he was in and out of the Rockies’ complex in Scottsdale, Ariz., and worked out there. Amador turns 22 in April, so time is still an ally, but he has to show improvement in 2025 … and he’s very aware of that.

For Ritter, the six-team Fall League with its 30-game schedule and wealth of prospects was going to be a second base proving ground.

That was the plan.

Ritter was coming off a frustrating season at Hartford. He was rolling along until suffering a high right ankle sprain July 23 while turning a double play. Ritter was catching and throwing the ball and tried to hop over the sliding runner. He clipped Ritter’s outer ankle, which folded his inner ankle.

“It honestly felt like my ankle snapped in half,” Ritter said.

The injury sidelined him just over a month and caused him to miss 28 games. Upon returning, Ritter struggled in the final three weeks of the season.

“I came back and just wasn’t the same,” he said. “I don’t feel like I really got anything back. I didn’t get into a good flow like I was doing.”

Indeed, Ritter went 9-for-49 (.184) after his layoff. At the time he was hurt, Ritter was hitting .286/.389/.431. His tailspin dropped him to .270/.370/.403 at the end of the season with seven home runs and 32 RBI in 91 games. One of those home runs was against Yankees ace Gerrit Cole — then the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner — when he made a rehab assignment for Somerset in June.

In the Fall League with the Salt River Rafters, Ritter played in just 14 of 30 games. At one point, he missed 12 consecutive games — games seven thru 18 on Salt River’s schedule — because of back soreness.

And as for that extensive experience at second base? Ritter played eight games at that position, three at shortstop and was the designated hitter for three games as well as for Salt River’s two playoff games that resulted in the Rafters winning the AFL title.

Meanwhile, Ritter’s Fall League slash line seems incomprehensible: .150/.477/.350. It’s hard to go 6-for-40, which Ritter did with two singles, two doubles and two home runs, and still end up with an .827 OPS.

But Ritter did just that because of his team-leading .477 OBP, the result of nearly as many walks (18) as strikeouts (19) and getting hit with seven pitches. He led the Fall League in the latter category and led the Rafters in walks.

Rockies Minor League Hitting Coordinator Nic Wilson was the Rafters’ hitting coach. He said in Ritter’s evaluation at the end of the regular season, they talked about Ritter sometimes chasing pitches outside the strike zone late in counts and maybe in full counts where a strikeout instead could have become a walk — and had statistical value. They agreed it was an area where Ritter really wanted to improve, and Wilson said Ritter did cut his chase rate in the Fall League.

“So I’m pretty happy in a sense he was able to come out and get better in those areas we talked about,” Wilson said. “Obviously, we would’ve loved to have him hit more. But the honest truth of that is the sample was so small, there were plenty of balls that were barreled but barreled at defenders.”

The way Ritter finished in the Fall League was extremely positive and sent him into the offseason enthused and confident. In his final four games, including Salt River’s two playoff games, Ritter went 7-for-17 (.412) with one double, two home runs and three RBI. He had two hits in each of the playoff games, including an opposite-field home run to right-center, a line drive with exit velocity clocked at 106 mph.

“My last week, I’m very happy about that,” Ritter said. “And I was able to take what I was doing from that week to go into the offseason. I was trying something new, and things really clicked for me. I felt like I caught a lot of barrels.

“And honestly, if I did not have that week, I would just have like a little different mindset. But I came into the offseason very confident and really excited to get after it.”

Ritter employed a move hitters call “the coil” in that final week. For a right-handed hitter like Ritter, it is felt in his right glute and hip and involves a slight sinking action that enables him to be further grounded and to generate more power with his lower half.

“What I did was you kind of hover and wrap around (my glute) like where you’re kind of looking at the catcher with your back knee,” Ritter said. “I was able to hold that feeling for like a second. That’s all you really need to hold it for. I was able to read the ball, see the ball better and make better swing decisions. I carried that through the playoffs.”

Ritter was fortunate his Fall League manager was Tyler Smarslok. He spent the past four seasons as the bench coach with Triple-A St. Paul, the Twins’ top farm club. While Smarslok was managing in the Fall League, the Twins promoted him to be their Minor League infield coordinator. About a month and a half later, Smarslok received an even bigger promotion. The Marlins hired him to be their first base coach as well as their infield and baserunning coach.

When Ritter was healthy in the Fall League, he worked with Smarslok on the nuances of second base. And even when he was limited, Ritter had conversations with Smarslok about the position’s fine points.

“The main focus for him was to shorten up the arm action just so that he could be as quick as he needs to be,” Smarslok said. “We were working on trying to shorten up his arm action a little bit, which can get a little bit long. Second base, you kind of almost want that like short, dart-throw arm action a little bit. It was something that he was working on, something that was new for him.”

Quickening Ritter’s arm action, Smarslok said, gives him the ability to get rid of the ball a little quicker when turning a double play. Since Ritter played both middle infield positions for Salt River, Smarslok saw Ritter’s skills at both second base and shortstop — the same skills at shortstop Rockies have seen since he began his professional career. Plenty of range. Soft hands. Strong arm. Good footwork. A lot of athleticism. The ability to finish a play in different ways, such as throwing on the run and across his body.

“If he gets a full season under his belt without time off (due to injury) and gets to play a lot of second base,” Smarslok said, “I think you’re going to be looking at a really good second baseman defensively.”

Before the Fall League, Ritter’s only experience at second base was 11 games, 10 starts, at Single-A Fresno in 2023. The Rockies are confident Ritter will have a smooth transition to second base and be able to play the position well. Their concerns with him lie elsewhere.

“I’m pretty pleased in the potential (to play second base),” Rockies Director of Player Development Chris Forbes said. “I just think it’s not going to be that much of an adjustment. The big part for him is he’s got to be able to post up. He’s got to be able to stay on the field. And we got to find a way for him to stay on the field. I don’t know if he’s an everyday player, and that’s what we need to find out.”

Ritter dealt with occasional back soreness last year at Hartford before suffering his ankle injury. After being drafted in 2022, he played just eight games in the Arizona Complex League as he sustained a groin injury.

He played at three levels in 2023, beginning the season at Fresno where he played 65 games and did enough to be named the California League’s Most Valuable Player. Hitting .305/.405/.606 with 18 home runs and 58 RBI brought Ritter an early July promotion to High-A Spokane. He hit .265/.367/.441 in 46 games with six home runs and 26 RBI there and finished the season with eight games at Hartford. The Rockies named him their Minor League Player of the Year.

On November 28, 2023, Ritter underwent surgery for a bilateral sports hernia. Dr. William Meyers, a noted Philadelphia surgeon who specializes in treating core muscle injuries, performed the operation.

“I went into Spring Training (last year) definitely still working on my strength,” Ritter said. “I definitely did not have the offseason of preparation that I wanted to have, so it was definitely like, well, it is what it is. I just got to deal with it.”

Ritter played 119 games in 2023, starting all but one. He knew how to “work around” tightness. Applying pressure with a lacrosse ball helped him loosen his groins. He tailored his stretching exercises as needed, avoiding those that aggravated any soreness.

“So I really just tried to be available,” Ritter said. “Best ability is availability.”

In the offseason when he was trying to get stronger, Ritter said everything he did hurt. He informed the Rockies. The decision was made to have sports hernia surgery.

“I’m very thankful of them getting me surgery,” Ritter said.

Hartford manager Bobby Meacham batted Ritter lower in the order early last season. But knowing he was coming off a big 2023 season, Meacham decided “let’s see what he does” near the top after outfielders Zac Veen and Benny Montgomery were hurt, necessitating some lineup shuffling. Meacham said Ritter “flourished” and made some notable adjustments.

“Early in the season,” Meacham said, “the fastball was beating him. I think that’s because he was more or less worried about chasing instead of just attacking the fastball.

“But to his credit, he stayed true to not jumping out after fastballs. He got jammed quite a few times early. He stayed on it, and he started to really just trust his hands and balls he was getting jammed with, he started hitting them up the middle.”

It was a pitch Ritter pulled that resulted in hard contact and one of his more memorable at-bats last season … and forever. It’s an at-bat that will happily linger.

On June 9, he led off the game at Somerset by lining a first-pitch home run to left field off Cole. The Yankees’ ace missed all of Spring Training with an elbow injury. He made his first rehab start June 4, starting for Somerset against Hartford in the opener of a six-game series.

In that game, Ritter, batting third for Hartford, faced Cole in the first inning with one out and a runner on second. Ritter swung at the first pitch, hit it off the end of his bat and grounded to first with Cole taking the throw.

“He threw me an offspeed (pitch),” Ritter said. “I think it was a cutter.”

With that at-bat in mind, when Ritter led off in the final game of the series June 9, he had a definite plan.

“I was really just hunting the pitch that he gave me,” Ritter said. “So it’s one of those at-bats where you’re looking for one pitch, one spot and that’s what I got. So that’s what you got to do when you get a pitch you expect.”

Ritter was looking for a first-pitch fastball inside from Cole. The swing produced solid contact … and a sizeable payoff. Three cherries had just dropped into place horizontally for Ritter. The slot machine was suddenly spewing silver dollars toward him, but not because of luck or happenstance.

“I was just ready for that fastball,” Ritter said, “so I doubled down on it the next time I faced him and got it. So I mean, I took my chance.”

The near capacity crowd of 8,260 was settling in and expecting to see Cole dominate when Ritter flipped the script. That was the only run and one of two hits Cole allowed as he threw 44 of 57 pitches for strikes in 4.2 innings. The fans got what they wanted, and so did Ritter.

“It was just a good way to start the game, set the tone,” he said. “There was definitely a good crowd there, so it was just cool to do that and kind of hear a little murmur running around the bases. It definitely was exciting running around the bases.”

Cole made one more rehab start before making his 2024 Yankees debut on June 19. So he was still working his way back and building arm strength when Ritter successfully hunted that fastball, squared it up and drove it over the fence in left field. Regardless, not too many Minor Leaguers can claim they took a Cy Young winner deep.

Wilson said Ritter, who is 6-foot-2, 205 pounds, has a gap-to-gap approach. When at his best, Ritter can get to the pull-side gap comfortably.

“And when he happens to be a little late,” Wilson said, “because he has great (bat) path and good hands, he can shoot the ball the other way as well.

“He’s big, he’s athletic, he’s dynamic, he’s powerful in the batters box. But he’s a guy who’s willing to accept a walk. I think that’s among one of his better qualities. We love his ability to impact the baseball. But hitting it hard and not able to be a high on-base player … You really want guys who can do it all. He’s showed the ability to do that.”

In his three professional seasons, Ritter, in 927 plate appearances, has a .379 OBP. He has averaged 10.7 walks and 26.2 strikeouts per nine innings. Then there are important traits that can’t be quantified.

Ritter has leadership and people skills that help solidify the clubhouse and enhance team chemistry. Wilson said those traits were evident in the Fall League, even though Ritter missed a lot of time and was getting familiar on the fly with his Salt River teammates. They were from four other organizations along with a handful of other Rockies Minor Leaguers.

“I’d describe Ryan has kind of the ‘it’ factor,” Wilson said. “The personality’s infectious. His teammates want to be around him. They look to him, whether he knows it or not. They watch the way that he goes about his business, and it’s always a net positive for the group.

“Off the field, guys are drawn to him, which is really the indicator of who’s a really good human. At the end of the day, I think that’s exactly what Ryan is. He’s the kind of person who’s a man of his word. He stands up to what he says he’s going to do. He’s accountable and, in turn, he holds other people accountable. He can always affect the game with his ability. And he’s got the ability to affect the clubhouse. The clubhouse is a lot better as a result of having him there.”

The Rockies selected Ritter out of Kentucky in the fourth round of the 2022 First-Year Player Draft. Players taken that high in the draft are envisioned as future Major Leaguers by organizations.

In its scouting report before that draft, Baseball America extolled Ritter’s defense but was less enthused about his offense. That report included the following:

Ritter will expand the zone frequently and particularly struggles to identify breaking balls and spit on pitches below the zone and off the plate on the outer half. He’s a fastball hitter who performed well against a solid sample of 93-plus mph velocity but whiffed between 40–50% of the time against sliders, curveballs and changeups. Ritter is a plus defensive shortstop who has easy plus arm strength, as well as good range and defensive instincts. Many have commented that he has a case as the best defender in the country.

The magazine went on to say Ritter could add more power as he adds muscle but will need to make more contact and improve his pitch recognition. The Rockies have been surprised to some degree by Ritter’s offense.

Rockies Assistant Director of Player Development Jesse Stender called Ritter “a special defender.” But Stender added, “Based on what we heard from the scouts and what we were expecting, there’s more impact in the bat than where the expectations were.”

Stender said Ritter has proven to be very competitive in the batters box and, in particular, being “kind of a pesky at-bat” with a do-what-it-takes determination that results in spoiling a pitch when needed and rolling over and hitting a grounder to get a run in when needed.

In the Fall League, the Rafters’ trainer steered Ritter toward an inexpensive piece of equipment designed to release the psoas muscle, which is a long muscle located deep in the lower back. Ritter is optimistic the back soreness that plagued him in the Fall League and at times at Hartford will not be a problem going forward.

“I haven’t felt anything since (the Fall League), and I’ve been feeling great,” Ritter said. “It was just something that I feel like I was really tight and didn’t know how to release muscle tension. And after the tightness went away, I was able to have a better routine every day and never feel what I felt in the Fall League.

“I’ve been training every day in the offseason, been going hard and haven’t had to think about my back one time. So I definitely know how to take care of myself better.”

In 2023, when Ritter was the class of the California League and averaging one home run every 13.67 at-bats and compiling a 1.011 OPS, Stender said, “He has all the tools you need on a baseball field to play at the major league level.”

The Rockies still feel that way. They would like to see him avoid what they call dings and dents, small injuries that can force him to miss games here and there. And like a lot of young hitters, Ritter can tinker with his approach and maybe overthink things when slumping.

Hartford hitting coach Zach Osborne said the ideal mindset for Ritter is “just trusting his preparation, his routine and kind of building confidence off that. When he’s feeling good and confident, it really shows. So it’s mainly tapping into that confidence all the time. That’s really hard, right? Because the game’s hard.”

Ritter has some success he can draw on. But he hasn’t played all that much, just two full seasons with a big chunk of 2024 lost to the ankle injury followed by three it’s-just-not-happening weeks upon returning and his limited Fall League experience.

Still, he has quickly come far. Second base, where his playing time is minimal, awaits. Ritter is eager to play the new position. Anything to increase his versatility. The organization is pleased with his overall so-good-so-far career arc. He will likely start the 2025 season at Triple-A Albuquerque where Forbes said very different challenges are lurking.

“He’s going to have work as the game kind of picks up and speeds up as you get close to the big leagues,” Forbes said, “but we’re pretty happy.”

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