Mile High Minors: Humphrey Shines at Double-A, Calaz's Power Surge Picks Up Steam
By Cameron Wright ·
Mile High Minors covers the last 7 days of action for the Rockies farm system.
Humphrey Earns His Double-A Stripes in a Hurry
Jacob Humphrey (AA, OF, Rank: 38) went 11-for-24 with a double, two RBI, two walks, and a hit by pitch across his first week of Double-A action at Hartford. That's a .458 average on contact in just his eighth appearance at the level, and the production builds on a 30-day stretch at AA that reads .438/.500/.531. Humphrey was promoted to Hartford from Spokane on August 18, and he arrived with a strong platform to work from: a combined .326/.397/.489 line with eight home runs and 30 steals across 302 plate appearances at High-A this season. The contact rate has held at 79.5 percent, and a 45.9 percent swing rate helps explain why the walk rate has been healthy throughout. For a player whose profile depends almost entirely on the bat staying close to average and the on-base skills holding up as he climbs, this week was a statement he needed to make.
A 60 speed tool and plus center field defense give Humphrey a stable floor regardless of where the offensive numbers settle, but the profile only gets interesting as an everyday player if the bat remains playable at upper levels. His below-average power means he cannot carry a lineup with home runs, and so a .310-.330 batting average with walks and stolen bases is the engine. The 20 percent swing-and-miss rate over the last 30 days at Hartford is not alarming, though it bears watching as Double-A arms sequence him more deliberately. Pitchers with sharper breaking balls and plus fastballs will test whether the 79 percent contact rate bends or holds. So far the answer has been mostly encouraging. The realistic ceiling remains a second-division everyday center fielder or a plus bench piece with real late-inning impact, but weeks like this one suggest the bat has more runway than a purely defense-and-speed read would imply.
Calaz's Last 18 Games Are a Different Story
Robert Calaz (A+, OF, Rank: 15) drove in two runs on four hits, including a homer, across 13 plate appearances at Spokane last week. On its own, a modest line. Layered into his last 30 days, it's a different picture: over 18 games at High-A, Calaz is slashing .306/.380/.645 with six home runs and 11 RBI in 71 plate appearances. That's a 40 percent swing rate over that stretch, down meaningfully from his season-long 49.5 percent, and the contact rate has ticked up accordingly. The underlying 60 raw power grade has been showing up in games for the better part of a month, which is worth noting separately from the season-long narrative: a .229/.305/.369 full-season line and a 30.5 percent strikeout rate have defined most of the discourse around his profile in 2026.
The honest read on Calaz is that the tools are real and the contact issues are real, and a one-month sample does not rewrite either. He's a corner outfielder whose path to a second-division role runs almost entirely through the bat, and the bat has to do heavy lifting given below-average speed and defensive limitations that keep him in left field. The season strikeout rate, the swing tendencies, and the chase history are all documented concerns. But the last 18 games suggest that when the approach tightens and the swing rate drops toward the low 40s, the power production can be genuinely significant. The next step is showing he can sustain that discipline across a full month rather than in bursts. He's 20 years old with a chance to grow into this. I'd be more patient than the season line might suggest.
Quick Hits
- Sterlin Thompson (AAA, OF, Rank: 17) · drew nine walks against five strikeouts across 29 plate appearances at Albuquerque last week, adding five hits including a double and one RBI. The contact total was modest, but the approach was vintage Thompson: a 29.4 percent walk rate over the last 30 days at Triple-A is not a misprint, and his season OBP at Albuquerque sits at .470 across 332 plate appearances. The gap between that production and his .312 OBP in 77 MLB plate appearances remains the central question in his profile. A 55 hit tool and patient, hands-driven left-handed swing give him a real shot at a second-division corner role if the major-league breaking-ball exposure gets more manageable.
- Charlie Condon (AAA, 1B, Rank: 6) · went 7-for-25 with two doubles, four RBI, four walks, and a hit by pitch at Albuquerque, bringing his season Triple-A line to .271/.390/.506 with 22 home runs across 520 plate appearances. The 70 raw power grade has translated consistently all year, and his 13.3 percent walk rate shows the zone awareness is real. The 30-day line is softer, .221/.352/.349 over 23 games, which tracks with a stretch where the swing-and-miss has been more prominent. Still, 22 home runs as a 23-year-old first baseman at Triple-A while maintaining a walk rate north of 13 percent is a productive season by any measure.
- Jack Natili (A, C, Rank: 7) · homered twice among five hits across 17 plate appearances at Fresno, with three RBI and a walk to go with six strikeouts. All four of his 2026 home runs have come in his last 10 games; the season line at Low-A now reads .308/.400/.667 across just 46 plate appearances. The 55 power grade with plus arm strength make Natili a legitimate everyday catching prospect if the bat-to-ball holds. A 65.6 percent contact rate and 28.3 percent strikeout rate are worth monitoring, and the swing can get long against premium velocity, but the early returns on his power are ahead of where you'd expect a defense-first catcher to be.
- Wilder Dalis (A, SS, Rank: 27) · collected six hits, a home run, and a double across 22 plate appearances at Fresno after being sent back down from High-A Spokane on August 25. The demotion came with a 9.37 ERA for the Spokane pitching staff in his brief stint on the mound side of things, but for Dalis as a hitter the return to Fresno has meant comfortable territory: his season Low-A line sits at .310/.409/.574 with 16 home runs and 23 steals in 328 plate appearances. A 41.2 percent swing rate and 73 percent contact rate are the foundation of a profile that grades out as a 55 hit tool with room to grow. The 2B projection fits the arm, but the bat is the ticket.
- Angel Jimenez (A+, RHP, Rank: 36) · posted five innings of three-run ball with nine strikeouts and 14 swinging misses against just one walk at Fresno last week, a performance that immediately preceded his promotion back to High-A Spokane on August 30. The season strikeout rate at Low-A is a genuinely eye-catching 31.8 percent across 62.1 innings, but the High-A numbers have been rough: a 9.37 ERA in 16.1 innings with seven home runs allowed in five starts. The stuff generates whiffs at every stop, a 31.4 percent season whiff rate backs that up, but the command (45 grade) and home-run susceptibility are real obstacles between him and the reliever projection he carries.
- Konner Eaton (AA, LHP, Rank: 33) · spun six innings of one-run ball with five strikeouts and eight swinging misses against two walks at Hartford last week, his cleanest start in a bumpy recent stretch. Over five Double-A starts in the last 30 days, the ERA sits at 5.48 with four home runs allowed in 23 innings, so the walk total and contact quality have been the drag. The season ERA at Hartford is 4.50 across 21 starts, a step back from his 3.56 mark at High-A Spokane in 2025. A 55 slider and enough fastball velocity to play give him a back-end starter floor, but the command (40 grade) will decide whether that translates at the next level.
- Mason Adams (MLB, RHP, Rank: 18) · had his contract selected by Colorado on August 25. He's punched out 10 batters in nine MLB innings with a 3.00 ERA across two appearances, carrying a combined 2.62 ERA through 92.2 professional innings this season between Double-A, Triple-A, and the majors. The swing-and-miss ability has been consistent throughout: 24 percent whiff rate across all levels.
- Roynier Hernandez (AA, 2B, Rank: 47) · was assigned to Hartford for his Double-A debut on August 25, going 3-for-19 with no extra-base hits and a walk in his first exposure at the level. He posted a .282/.389/.391 line with six home runs and four steals over 404 plate appearances at High-A Spokane before the promotion, which represents solid on-base production from a 19-year-old at that level. The Double-A transition is always a stiffer test; the early sample says nothing beyond the fact that he has arrived.
- Derek Bernard (A+, OF, Rank: 43) · collected four hits and two doubles while drawing three walks across 16 plate appearances at Spokane last week. The contact has been hard to come by over the last month; his 30-day High-A line reads .150/.282/.200 with a 32.4 percent strikeout rate and a 62.1 percent contact rate over 71 plate appearances. For a player whose profile leans on the 50 hit tool to carry a fringe-power corner outfield projection, that stretch is a concern. The walk rate (15.5 percent over the last 30 days) is keeping the on-base number from completely collapsing, which is something.
- Aiden May (A+, RHP, Rank: 28) took on 21 batters over 5.1 scoreless innings at Spokane, allowing four hits and two walks with one strikeout and two swinging misses. The ERA at Spokane through four starts sits at 3.38 with a 1.07 WHIP since arriving from the Marlins in the August 4 trade. He walked just 3.9 percent of batters faced at the level, an improvement over his 8.3 percent mark at Beloit earlier in the year. A 55 fastball and 60 slider headline the arsenal; the changeup (45 grade) is what determines his rotation ceiling from a long-relief floor.