Colorado Rockies Breakout MLB Prospects For 2025

Entering 2025, we’re projecting a number of Rockies prospects to have the potential for a breakout season.

To qualify, a player must rank outside the organization’s Top 10 prospects entering the year. All scouting reports are from Baseball America’s 2025 Prospect handbook, which you can purchase here.

You can find Top 10 prospect rankings for all teams here and all breakout candidates here.

Sandy Ozuna, RHP

Preseason Rank: 15
BA Grade/Risk: 50/Extreme

Track Record: Ozuna was signed later in the 2023 international period, inking for $45,000 just prior to the beginning of the 2023 Dominican Summer League season. He debuted three days after signing and made 13 appearances for the DSL Rockies in 2023. Ozuna moved stateside for 2024 and made 10 appearances with the Rockies’ Arizona Complex League affiliate, where he was among the standouts on a talented ACL Rockies club, posting a 3-0 record with a 4.14 ERA and 45 strikeouts to 11 walks across 37 innings. Ozuna ranked as the seventh-best prospect in the ACL following the 2024 season.

Scouting Report: Ozuna is a young projectable righthander with a prototypical build and present command. He stands 6-foot-3 with a long-limbed body that could add good weight in the coming years. Ozuna has a smooth and athletic operation with a whippy arm that delivers the ball from a higher three-quarters slot. His arm action is longer but Ozuna stays on time and keeps the ball fairly well hidden. He mixes a four-seam fastball with fringy ride and some cut sitting 93-96 mph and touching 97 mph at peak. He’s potentially a candidate to pick up a sinker in the future due to his lower spin efficiency profile. His low-to-mid-80s gyro slider generated a 21.4% swinging-strike rate. Ozuna’s third pitch is a firm, higher-80s changeup for which he shows below-average feel.

The Future: Ozuna is a young projectable righthander with above-average command of his fastball and slider, but needed development of a third pitch. He has a chance to develop into a No. 4 starter.

Scouting Grades: FB: 55. SL: 55. CH: 40. CTL: 55.

Cole Messina, C

Preseason Rank: 20
BA Grade/Risk: 45/High

Track Record: Messina spent three seasons at South Carolina and starred for his home state’s school, starting a majority of the games behind the plate over his sophomore and junior campaigns. In 2024 Messina hit .326/.465/.701 with 21 home runs and won the Johnny Bench Award as well as second-team All-American honors. The Rockies selected Messina in the third round and he signed for a bonus just north of $1 million. Messina debuted out of the draft in High-A, playing in 17 games for Spokane and hitting .140 with one home run.

Scouting Report: Messina is a physically strong catcher with plus athleticism despite his burly build. He was a standout in the force plate and athletic testing that teams now incorporate into the draft evaluation process. Messina shows fringe plate skills with fringe-average contact and an aggressive approach, though it’s not wildly aggressive. Messina excels at hunting barrels. He has the ability to consistently hit the ball hard and in the air. This gives Messina some hints of plus power projection, though he’s more likely to settle in at above-average home run totals. Messina is an average runner who will give you the surprisingly plus run time every so often, though he’s not much of a basestealing threat. Behind the plate Messina moves well and has a chance to be an above-average defender with good framing and blocking and an above-average arm.

The Future: Messina has a chance to develop into an everyday catcher if he proves he can hit. Overall, he has a wide range of potential outcomes.

Scouting Grades: HIT: 40. POW: 55. RUN: 50. FLD: 55. ARM: 55.

Kelvin Hidalgo, SS

Preseason Rank: 21
BA Grade/Risk: 50/Extreme

Track Record: Hidalgo signed with the Rockies for $500,000 out of the Dominican Republic as a part of their 2022 international class. He spent two seasons in the Dominican Summer League, hitting 12 home runs and batting .314/.406/.583 in 2023. Hidalgo came stateside in 2024 starting his season with the Rockies Arizona Complex League affiliate and hit .288 58 ACL games. He was promoted to Low-A Fresno at the end of the 2024 season.

Scouting Report: Hidalgo is an exciting, tooled-up middle infielder with plus power projection. Hidalgo’s bat-to-ball skills and overall plate discipline are fairly raw, leading to elevated swing and miss. He struggles to lay off breaking balls in particular and saw a lot of whiff against spin in the ACL. Hidalgo does have plus raw power and produced a 104.9 mph 90th percentile exit velocity and a max EV of 113.2 mph in 2024. He’s still learning to optimize his batted ball angles and lift the ball to his pull side. He’s a plus runner with the ability to steal bases, and his twitchy athleticism also translates to his defense. Hidalgo has good footwork, actions and a plus arm that should give him a chance to stick at shortstop.

The Future: Hidalgo has above-average regular upside but a ways to go toward refining his bat-to-ball skills and approach.

Scouting Grades: HIT: 40. POW: 55. RUN: 60. FLD: 55. ARM: 60.