Rockies Select Cole Carrigg

The Rockies announced that they have selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Cole Carrigg and recalled right-hander Jeff Criswell. In corresponding moves, they placed infielder/outfielder Tyler Freeman on the seven-day concussion injured list and designated Keegan Thompson for assignment.

Carrigg, now 24, was selected with the 65th overall pick in the 2023 draft. He is clearly a talented athlete, capable of doing all kinds of things. He is a switch hitter with speed. At San Diego State, he played every position on the diamond except for first base and right field.

After the Rockies drafted him, they initially had him split his time between catcher, shortstop and the outfield. He hasn’t been behind the plate since 2023, however. In 2025, he only played the outfield. Here in 2026, he has been splitting his time between shortstop and center field.

Offensively, Carrigg has a .283/.359/.474 line throughout his minor league career. He has been at the Triple-A level here in 2026, with 257 plate appearances on the year. His 15.2% strikeout rate is quite low and his 10.5% walk rate above average. He has six home runs, a .338 /.414/.529 line and 129 wRC+, though a .387 batting average on balls in play is helping him out a lot. He has 30 steals in 37 attempts.

Baseball America currently lists Carrigg as the #4 prospect in the Rockies’ system. MLB Pipeline has him at #6 and ESPN recently listed him in the #7 spot. Reports on him generally focus on his aggressiveness, noting that it can be both an asset and a liability for him. He got really swing-happy at Double-A last year and struck out at a 27% clip, though he seems to have reined that in this year. But getting too passive isn’t ideal either since his speed and explosiveness are a big part of his appeal.

The Rockies have Ezequiel Tovar at shortstop. He is having an awful season but Colorado is unlikely to make a change since he signed an extension through 2030. Even though he is struggling, they will presumably let him play to try to work it out.

The outfield is more open. Freeman joins Mickey Moniak, Brenton Doyle and Jordan Beck on the IL. In recent weeks, the Rockies have had an outfield mix of Freeman, Jake McCarthy, Troy Johnston and Sterlin Thompson. McCarthy has been the regular up the middle while Freeman has been taking most of the right field playing time. With Carrigg coming up, perhaps he will take over as the center fielder, with McCarthy sliding over to right.

Since this is Carrigg’s first major league call, he has a full slate of options and could be sent back down to the minors as those injured guys come off the IL, though Thompson also has options and is hitting .222/.327/.267 on the year. The roster might also get a shake-up at the deadline, since the Rockies are 24-42 and clearly trending towards being sellers this summer. McCarthy is in his arbitration years and would be a trade candidate, even though he’s under club control through 2028. Ditto for Freeman. Moniak is only under club control through 2027 and is even more likely to be available.

There are a few different ways things can go in the coming weeks and months, depending on health, performance and transactions. Ideally, Carrigg can hit the ground running and stay up in the majors. Regardless of how things play out in the short term, the Rockies will hope he can become a building block on their roster for the long term.

Thompson, 31, was claimed off waivers from the Reds in the offseason. The Rockies then outrighted him off the roster just before Opening Day. He could have elected free agency but had agreed to a $1.3MM salary with Cincinnati before the Rockies claimed him. Heading to the open market would have meant walking away from that money, so he reported to Triple-A Albuquerque.

He was added back to the roster about three weeks ago and has been working a long relief role for the Rockies. He has thrown 12 innings over five appearances, allowing 11 earned runs in that time. There’s surely a bit of bad luck in that small sample, as his 3.5% walk rate was quite good and his 19.3% strikeout rate just a few ticks south of par. His .419 batting average on balls in play and 51% strand rate helped push some extra runs across, which is why his 2.86 FIP and 3.71 SIERA were more optimistic.

Ultimately, it’s a small sliver of his larger track record. He came into the year with a 3.64 ERA in 227 1/3 career innings. His 23% strikeout rate and 41% ground ball rate in that time were solid but he gave walks to 11.3% of batters faced. He just cleared waivers a few months ago and could perhaps do so again. If that comes to pass, he would likely accept another outright assignment, as there’s still about $765K to be paid out on his deal.