Michael Toglia Sent Down To Triple-A

Michael Toglia Sent Down Amid Struggling Season

Outside of stars Brenton Doyle and Ezequiel Tovar, Toglia was the most intriguing player to follow on the Rockies. He emerged last season in a big way offensively, and it appeared the Rockies had finally found their first baseman of the future. In just 116 games last season, Toglia was second on the club with 25 home runs. He was fourth with 55 RBI and second with 10 steals. The Rockies were beginning to find a nucleus to build around in Doyle, Tovar, and Toglia. Toglia was a prime candidate for a breakout this season. Instead, the season could not have gone much worse to this point.

Among the biggest concerns for Toglia this season is his major strikeout problem. Per Statcast, Toglia’s 39.1% K rate is in the bottom one percent of Major League Baseball. At one point this season, Toglia was striking out at a 48% clip. He has a 37.5% whiff rate and is squaring up baseballs just 19% of the time. His barrel rate has dropped from 17.3% last season (98th percentile) to 10.3% (60th percentile). Compounding his strikeout problem, his walk rate has gone down from 11.8% last season to 8.7%.

Toglia was the prototypical player for former hitting coach Hensley Meulens, who was let go earlier this season. Toglia will never be a hitter for average, but you overlook his strikeout rate when he’s consistently hitting home runs. Toglia was the poster boy for that style of Rockies offense that showed serious improvement in the power category in 2023-24 under Meulens. But this season, the strikeout problem reared its ugly head, and the power vanished. Resulting in a dreadful offense, costing Meulens his job.

What’s Next For Toglia and the Rockies?

This season is more in line with Toglia’s 2023 season. In his rookie year, he hit .163/.224/.284 with just four home runs in 152 plate appearances. This season, he is hitting .194/.266/.349 with just six home runs in 207 plate appearances. He is sporting a team-worst 81:18 K: BB ratio. The Rockies were left with no choice, and Toglia’s playing time waning in recent days served as a precursor to the demotion. Over the last month, Toglia went 13-81 with a K: BB ratio of 40:13.

It’s hard to overstate how devastating this is for Toglia, considering the expectations heading into this season. After his stellar second half last season, it appeared he was officially a regular for the Rockies. Now, he will have to regroup in Triple-A and not let this setback ruin his season. The Rockies are hoping that consistent at-bats with Albuquerque will help Toglia address his strikeout problem and rediscover his power.

Hiura joins a suddenly crowded Rockies’ infield. In 169 at-bats with Triple-A Albuquerque, Hiura has hit .243/.360/.467 with nine homers and 31 RBI. He joined the Rockies as a non-roster invitee in spring training. Kyle Farmer has seen increased playing time at first base recently in place of Toglia. It will be interesting to see how the Rockies utilize Hiura. Schunk was drafted in the second round of the 2019 MLB draft out of the University of Georgia. He debuted last season and appeared in 11 games this season, hitting .214/.214/.250.