Rockies Third Baseman Named Team’s Minor League Player of the Year

Last season Karros put himself on the map. In 123 games in High-A, he hit .311 with an .875 OPS, 33 doubles, 15 homers and 78 RBIs. His play earned him a Baseball American High Class A All-Star selection and he even won the Northwest League MVP.

As a 21-year-old who did that at High-A, it seemed likely that he would move quickly through the minors after that. However, an injury that occurred at the beginning of May kept him out for a month and pushed his timeline back.

"The injury kind of set him back a little bit, but he got back at it, forced his way up to Triple-A and obviously the rest is history now, " said Rockies assistant farm director Jesse Stender to Baseball America.

The former fifth round pick crushed his way through the rest of the minors in 2025. In 55 games with Double-A, he hit .294 with an .861 OPS, 17 doubles and four homers. After being promoted to Triple-A, he hit .306 with an .868 OPS in 16 games there.

Now with the big league team, Karros is getting reps as the season winds to an end. In 37 games, he's hit .225 with a .580 OPS and one homer.

The 23-year-old has a lot of nice tools. He's a great defender at third, winning a minor league Gold Glove in 2024. The defensive change from Ryan McMahon to Karros should be smooth. He doesn't have the biggest power tool, but he will get a boost from playing in Coors Field and could be a 20-plus home run a year type of player.

Not only is he great on the field, but he's reportedly an even better teammate. He can speak Spanish in order to talk to his teammates in their language and is a good leader.

With the Rockies in limbo in terms of their managerial search, and possibly front office search, Karros has a chance to prove himself as someone who can win the starting third base job in the offseason and Spring Training. He has a head start, now he needs to find his swing at the big league level.