Mile High Minors: Rockies Prospect Recap — August 4, 2026
By Cameron Wright ·
Veen Is Lapping the Field
Zac Veen (AAA, LF, Rank: 6) went 13-for-29 with four home runs, four doubles, a triple, and 14 RBI across 33 plate appearances last week. That's not a hot stretch; that's a statement. His .650 slugging over the last 30 days backs it up, with six home runs and 22 RBI in 19 games at Triple-A Albuquerque. Through 94 games this season he's hitting .317/.392/.602 with 20 home runs, 31 doubles, and 16 steals, a .130-point slugging jump over his 2025 Triple-A line. The 50 hit tool and 55 power grades now look conservative for where he is right now, and at 24 years old this sustained production should force a serious Colorado conversation well before September. Perhaps, the trade of Brenton Doyle to the White Sox means Veen will get his shot soon.
The knock on Veen has always been timing: his leg lift and long levers can get him in trouble when he doesn't get started early, and those issues showed up during a brief 2025 MLB cameo when he hit .118 in 37 plate appearances. The current version looks more compact when he's locked in, and the gap-to-pull-side power is showing up in games the way it always projected on paper. He's a plus runner with above-average corner defense, so the profile doesn't rely on the bat alone. His ceiling is a .260-.270 hitter with 20-25 home runs and double-digit steals, and right now he's running ahead of that. The question isn't whether Veen can hit Triple-A pitching anymore.
Dalis Is Making the Grades Look Stale
Wilder Dalis (A, SS, Rank: 29) hit three home runs and drove in 10 runs last week in 32 plate appearances, drawing six walks against six strikeouts. That's a disciplined week from a 20-year-old switch-hitter who earned a quad-A projection just two weeks ago. His last-30-day line at Fresno is even more striking: .371/.462/.742 over 22 games with eight home runs, 31 RBI, and 16 walks in 106 plate appearances. For the season at Low-A he's at .306/.409/.570 with 14 home runs, 21 steals, and a 40-to-69 walk-to-strikeout ratio across 281 plate appearances.
The profile on Dalis has him as a likely second baseman without a true plus carrying tool, and there's nothing wrong with that read at face value; he's a switch-hitter with a 50 hit tool and modest raw power who may not stick at shortstop long-term. But the current numbers suggest the power and discipline are both ahead of schedule, and it's worth wondering whether the July 24 report is already behind the curve. Contact rate and approach will be the real tests once he climbs to High-A, but at this pace a promotion is coming soon, and that next assignment will tell us a lot more than anything happening in Fresno right now.
Thompson Keeps His Name in the Mix
Sterlin Thompson (AAA, OF, Rank: 19) was the PIdx leader for the week on 14 plate appearances, going 6-for-9 with a homer, two doubles, a triple, three RBI, and five walks without striking out once. That zero-strikeout week is very on-brand: his 50 hit tool is the engine of the profile, and his 51-walk, 45-strikeout ratio at Triple-A this season reflects a contact-and-on-base approach that has produced a .314/.456/.480 line in 281 plate appearances at Albuquerque. He's also stolen 13 bases and hit eight home runs, flirting with the lower end of his projected 16-20 HR range despite only having .480 slugging.
Thompson was optioned back to Triple-A in late June after a 77-plate-appearance MLB stint where he hit .232 with a .312 OBP; the underlying contact ability was there but the power didn't show up and the breaking ball issues that have always been part of the scouting file resurfaced against big league arms. At 25, there's no developmental runway to speak of. He's a 50 hit, 45 power corner outfielder who needs the bat to carry the position, and the AAA numbers say it can. Whether Colorado gives him another look before the end of 2026 depends more on roster circumstances than anything he can do statistically at this level.
Quick Hits
Landyn Vidourek (A, OF, Rank: 31) · drove in 10 runs on six hits, including two home runs, and drew nine walks in 29 plate appearances in his first week at Fresno following his acquisition from the Dodgers on July 20. The .361 OBP over the last 30 days at Low-A is the encouraging part; the strikeout rate (28 in 84 plate appearances over that span) and the .145 average confirm the contact concerns that follow his profile from every stop. He has a 70 speed grade, a 65 athleticism score, and 60 raw power, which is a tantalizing toolkit for a 22-year-old right fielder. The contact question is genuine, but Colorado inherited a player who was suffocating under a 38.7% K-rate with Ontario. A change of scenery is at least a data point.
Roynier Hernandez (A, SS, Rank: 48) · produced 8 hits, 2 doubles, a homer, and 8 RBI across 32 plate appearances, drawing nine walks against five strikeouts. His 30-day OBP of .442 at High-A Spokane reflects the 55 hit tool doing what it's supposed to do: getting on base through contact and discipline rather than power. For the season across both levels he's at .304/.416/.428, and his walk-to-strikeout ratio of 62-to-56 is exceptional for a 21-year-old infielder.
Andy Perez (AA, SS, Rank: 25) · went 8-for-20 with a double and 2 RBI in 21 plate appearances; the hit tool is clearly carrying the water right now. His last-30-day line of .345/.370/.471 at Hartford is the most encouraging stretch of a season where he's sitting at .311 on 416 PAs, though the .337 OBP and just 15 walks in 96 games tell you the approach still needs refinement. He has 22 steals this year, up from 19 in 2025 at High-A, so the above-average speed is showing up more consistently.
Ethan Hedges (A+, 3B, Rank: 28) · had 6 hits, 3 doubles, a home run, and 6 RBI in 23 plate appearances. His 13th home run of the year continues a power emergence that looked distant based on a .195 debut in 2025; he's slugging .441 through 397 plate appearances at Spokane and has hit .300 over the last 30 days. He struck out five times last week against one walk, which is a window into the swing-and-miss risk that sits at the core of the profile, but 13 home runs and 59 RBI at 22 is a legitimate step forward.
Kelvin Hidalgo (OF) · collected 6 hits and 2 RBI in 15 plate appearances. His last 30 days at .301/.350/.425 look a lot better than his season-long .247/.306/.396, and he's now at 10 home runs and 16 steals through 365 plate appearances. The strikeout rate is still a problem at roughly 26% on the season, down from 32% in the California League last year, but the trend is at least pointing in the right direction for a player whose entire ceiling rides on whether he can get the contact rate to a functional level.
Cole Messina (AA, C, Rank: 37) · went 4-for-13 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI in 15 plate appearances. His season line at Hartford sits at .216/.326/.333, well below his .259/.358/.382 output from 2025 at High-A, and the 30-day OBP of .361 is the silver lining. The catcher profile is built on receiving ability and makeup rather than offensive projection anyway, and I'd focus more on whether the pop-up power from his 50 power grade eventually shows up consistently than on the batting average. He's still young enough at 23 for the bat to catch up.
Sandy Ozuna (A, RHP, Rank: 50) · made his Fresno debut and went 3 innings, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits with a walk and 3 strikeouts. The command base (55 grade) and fastball sitting 95-97 are the reasons to stay patient; a 4.76 ERA across eight starts covering only 17 innings is too thin a sample to draw conclusions. His complex-league K-rate of 21 punchouts in 14 innings is the more interesting data point, and the move to Low-A is the first real test of whether the fastball-slider combination holds up against hitters who have seen real pitching.