The Colorado Rockies are having infield prospect Adael Amador travel to St. Louis to join the team ahead of a potential promotion to the majors, according to MLB.com's Thomas Harding. Amador's activation hinges on how Brendan Rodgers, who suffered a hamstring on Friday night against the Cardinals, heals over the coming days.
If Rodgers is able to make a quick recovery, Amador may not receive an official promotion; otherwise, he would be in line to make his big-league debut despite having not yet appeared in a Triple-A game.
Over the offseason, CBS Sports ranked Amador as the top prospect in the Rockies system. Here's what we wrote at the time:
The switch-hitting Amador possesses an excellent feel for making contact and controlling the zone. Need evidence? He's walked 20 more times than he's struck out during his professional career. Amador has a flat swing that doesn't lend itself to big-time slugging production, but he has homered 27 times the last two seasons, nodding at his sneaky power. Amador does hit the ball into the earth a lot, with more than 55% of his batted balls last season being classified as grounders. He would've ranked near the top of the majors in that respect, alongside the likes of Tim Anderson, Christian Yelich, and William Contreras. (Clearly it's not necessarily a good or bad thing.) Defensively, Amador is likely to end up at the keystone, if only out of deference to the smooth-fielding Ezequiel Tovar. He should begin the season at Double-A, though we suspect he has a chance to finish it in the majors.
Amador, 21, has exclusively played second base this season. In 46 games at Double-A, he's hit .194/.337/.329 with seven home runs and 22 stolen bases (on 25 attempts). Despite a dreadful overall line, he has performed better recently, slashing .253/.359/.506 over the last four weeks.
It's worth noting that Amador was already on the Rockies' 40-player roster, meaning they would require only one transaction -- likely placing Rodgers on the IL -- to promote him onto the active roster.
