End-of-Spring Storylines for the 2026 Rockies

With a week remaining until Major League Baseball clubs take the field for the first time this season and 43 players remaining in big league camp, several of spring training’s storylines have yet to play out for the Colorado Rockies

Manager Warren Schaeffer operated his first camp in Scottsdale without 11 different members of his club due to the two-week World Baseball Classic.

Though that created a lot more opportunity to get a better sense about the abilities of those still with the team, the 41-year-old skipper doesn’t think this made it easier for Colorado to make critical roster decisions.

“I think it would have been an advantage to have everybody here together for a long time. But just like anything else, you make it work. And there’s good things that come out of this whole thing. Great experience for these guys going to the WBC,” Schaeffer said. “But no, I don’t think there’s any advantage to our team, the guys that are going to be on our team, for them to go away in terms of our team.”

Many players returned from the WBC two days after being eliminated. The day after ending their bid for a championship meant travel, and a day beyond that meant arriving back at their team’s facility. 

For SS Ezequiel Tovar and RHP Antonio Senzatela of Venezuela, who became just the third and fourth active members of the Rockies to win the WBC after 3B Nolan Arenado and LHP Jake McGee of Team USA in 2017, it might take an extra day to arrive in Arizona.

“I don’t know, Venezuela, they have reason to celebrate, so maybe they take a day and celebrate. I don’t know,” Schaeffer admitted. “Tovi will be ready, and Senza will be ready whenever they get back.”

With the roster reuniting at Salt River Fields and six games left on their exhibition schedule before opening in Miami on March 27, here’s what’s left at stake for Colorado.

Who Wins the First Base Job?

The most competitive battle for Schaeffer’s squad this spring was for the vacant first base spot. Five names were thrown into the purple-brimmed hat, with as many as three multi-positional players able to earn a place on the Opening Day roster: 1B Blaine Crim, 1B/OF Troy Johnston, 2B/1B Edouard Julien, 1B T.J. Rumfield and 1B/OF Charlie Condon.

Crim has been limited to two games and four plate appearances because of an oblique strain. Condon, Rumfield and Johnston are all in the top three in terms of games played for Colorado, while Julien managed to appear in five games before playing for Team Canada.

Condon and Rumfield are the only two not currently on the 40-man roster, and yet they have made the biggest impressions.

Condon trails only C Brett Sullivan in OPS for those with at least 10 games played for Colorado. He’s spent more time in the outfield than at first base, and the hope is that he could improve enough at both positions to begin contributing in Denver after a brief stint at Triple-A Albuquerque.

Rumfield not only leads the club with four home runs and 10 RBI, but he’s remarkably gone down on strikes once in 49 plate appearances (2%). His glovework has also been a boon for a franchise that places a premium on defense. The wise choice is Rumfield.

Too Much Starting Pitching?

When Schaeffer suggested at the end of 2025 that veteran RHP Antonio Senzatela was going to be ticketed for a place in the 2026 bullpen, the team had yet to sign three free agent starting pitchers. (He also didn’t know who would be making such decisions, as the end of the Bill Schmidt era seemed likely.)

Flash forward to president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta and general manager Josh Byrnes handing one-year deals this offseason to RHP Michael Lorenzen, RHP Tomoyuki Sugano and LHP Jose Quintana.

With Denver native LHP Kyle Freeland the only starter who posted a sub-5.00 ERA in more than six starts, that leaves only the fifth spot in the Rockies rotation.

RHP Ryan Feltner and RHP Chase Dollander appeared to be the top candidates before Senzatela unveiled an altered arsenal that had Colorado changing their tune on the 31-year-old from Venezuela.

Both Feltner and Dollander appeared in Tuesday’s 10-6 loss to the Seattle Mariners, and both struggled with command. However, both men feel confident they can win the battle for the final spot in the rotation.

“I don’t even pay attention to it. I know I’m the best,” Dollander said. “It’s a fun competition, but I think you have to have that mindset of, ‘I’m the best,’ and that’s exactly what I have.” 

Feltner, limited to six starts in 2025 with right shoulder and back injuries after posting a 2.98 ERA over his final 15 starts of 2024, feels equally positive. 

“I know what I’m capable of,” the 29-year-old said on Tuesday. “After a tough year of being injured last year, I’m more so proving things to myself and not really anybody else. So I feel good with where I am physically and with my stuff right now, and I think the last 2% will come.”

Closer by Committee?

Colorado is going on three consecutive seasons without a closer saving at least 15 games. Before this current stretch, it had happened just twice, both in shortened seasons.

Seth Halvorsen (11-for-14 in save opportunities) and Victor Vodnik (10-for-15) each spent extended periods as the primary option in the ninth inning last season. When Zach Agnos was promoted for his debut in late April, he would record two saves before accruing two weeks of service time.

Halvorsen has struggled badly this spring. He suffered a right elbow strain in early August that wasn’t serious enough to require surgery, but it did cost him in the final two months of the season. His 17.18 ERA is due to 10 walks in five outings and an inability to miss bats (3 K). 

Vodnik has struggled just as much. A 27.00 ERA over his first three appearances with the Rockies seemed troubling before not allowing an earned run in two scoreless outings with Mexico in the WBC and posting his first scoreless frame of the Cactus League slate on Wednesday.

Take both results with a grain of salt. Unless you’re talking about Agnos.

“[Agnos] has been an incredible standout in this camp. I think it’s been blatantly obvious to anyone that has been watching spring training games,” Schaeffer said. A 9-to-1 strikeout to walk rate has given credence that he could be the one saving games once again.

Schaeffer even hinted at the possibility that Agnos and others could start games for once the regular season begins, effectively getting rid of the top hitters in the opposing lineup before making way for someone from the rotation to throw the next six frames. 

With a new staff of pitching coaches willing to experiment at altitude, the only question is whether someone like Agnos is more valuable in the first inning or the ninth. 

What Else Could We See?

According to one high-ranking member of the club, the Rockies’ new front office is all about maximizing assets.

Could that mean making another trade in late March to take advantage of another team acting out of desperation? If Colorado can swing a deal in order to improve its prospects for becoming better in future seasons, then DePodesta and Byrnes will be all for it.

Sullivan was brought into camp as a non-roster invite along with Kyle McCann. An impressive showing at the plate has forced Schaeffer and his staff to re-examine the backup catcher’s spot. Braxton Fulford, the incumbent who held his own behind Hunter Goodman for half of 2025, has played rather well, too.

“Brax is taking some really good swings right now,” Schaeffer said after Fulford’s third homer of the spring. “Past three, four games, he’s really turned it on at the plate. He looks good and making a push here.”

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