Welcome back, everyone. I hope you had a great Fourth of July weekend.
The season has moved on, which means we all have to know the holes we have in our teams and now try to fill them. Obviously, trading can fill that hole, but finding the right partner isn’t always easy. Which means you can try to add via the waiver wire, where there are up-and-coming dynasty players waiting to be added to your team.
One of those players is Cole Carrigg of the Colorado Rockies. Currently, he is ranked in only 23% of ESPN’s league and 33% of Yahoo’s league. Even in Fantrax leagues, which are heavily burdened with dynasty leagues, he was included in only 67% of leagues. Carrigg is a player who can help you now, but he is also a player who should help you win games for years to come.
Let’s dive into Cole Carrigg.
Statistics
| A YEAR | LEVEL | G | RS | HR | The RBI | SB | AVG | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-23 | The NCAA | 133 | 101 | 7 | 90 | 39 | .333 | .399 | .477 |
| 2023 | Rk | A | 36 | 32 | 5 | 29 | 13 | .350 | .408 | .600 |
| 2024 | Rk | A+ | 118 | 87 | 17 | 65 | 53 | .283 | .359 | .491 |
| 2025 | AA | 123 | 81 | 15 | 64 | 46 | .237 | .306 | .394 |
| 2026 | AAA | 57 | 55 | 6 | 42 | 30 | .338 | .414 | .529 |
| 2026 | The Rockies | 27 | 23 | 4 | 21 | 2 | .307 | .385 | .580 |
Undrafted out of high school, Cole Carrigg headed to San Diego State University to play football for the Aztecs and had a solid three-year career there. In 133 games, he slashed .333/.399/.477 with seven homers, 90 RBI, 101 runs scored, and 39 steals. His best season came in his sophomore season when he slashed .388/.426/.509 with 34 runs, three homers, 40 RBIs and 19 steals in 54 games.
His numbers weren’t great during his junior year (.303 / .357 / .458 30-2-27-17 in 42 games), but the Rockies liked his entire body of work and selected him in the second round of the 2023 draft with the 65th pick. Carrigg quickly showed his potential by slashing .350/.408/.600 in 36 games, but struggled over the next two years before earning his spot this year in Triple-A as he slashed .338/.414/.529 in 57 games with an outstanding 30 steals.
The Rockies recalled Carrigg from the minors in June, and he made his major league debut on June 9 against the Cubs, and has been a mainstay in the lineup ever since.
Tools
In college, he had just seven homers in 480 at-bats. But since becoming a major leaguer, he’s learned to get more out of his swing as he’s gained power, hitting 17 homers in 118 games in 2024 and 15 in 123 games last season in Double-A. This year in Triple-A, he had six dingers in 57 games before joining Colorado.
Carrigg is not a traditional power hitter, but he can do damage at the plate as he learns to use his power. He already has four homers with the Rockies, and he can hit for power on both sides of the plate, as seen here against the Athletics as a lefty and here against the Cubs as a righty.
If you look at Carrigg’s Statcast numbers, they tend to show a hitter who is likely to hit homers, but don’t count on the big power numbers. In Triple-A this season, he had an Average EV of 88.6 mph and a Hard Hit% of 38.8% with a 6.4% Barrel%. Those numbers are close to what he is doing with the Rockies. Carrigg currently has an AEV of 86.1 mph (MLB average is 88.2 mph) with a 30.6% Hard Hit% and 6.9% Barrel% (MLB averages are 37.1% and 7.6%).
Hot tackle Cole Carrigg had a below-average grade coming out of college, as scouts gave him a grade of 45. And Carrigg has shown at times why that grade was given. His career batting average in the minors was .283, and as a 23-year-old in Double-A in 2025, he slashed just .237/.316/.394. He also had a 27% strikeout rate with an 8.3% walk rate. So there were concerns about how well Carrigg would bat at major league level.
But 2026 has been a positive change on the plate for Carrigg’s batting. In his 57 games at Triple-A he had a 15% strikeout rate and a 10.5% walk rate. So far with Colorado, he has been able to maintain those levels as his strikeout rate is 19% and his walk rate is 11.4%. If he can maintain those percentages, Carrigg will find great success with the Rockies.
His batting velocity is above average, and he tends to hit the ball in the air as he has a 37.5% ground ball percentage, which is below the MLB average of 44.2%. The ability to lift the ball with his above-average batting velocity should allow him to hit his share of homers over time. However, his speed allowed him to collect nine infield hits and thus allowed him to maintain a strong batting average and OBP.
Perhaps one of the main reasons why Cole Carrigg rose in the Rockies’ rankings was the fact that Carrigg has the ability to steal bases. His sprint speed of 29 feet per second is in the 90th percentile, and he collected 142 steals in 334 minor league games with an 82% success rate.
But for the Rockies, Carrigg’s speed didn’t show as he had two steals in two attempts. As a team, the Rockies don’t like stealing bags as they have 65 steals on the season, just above the MLB average of 63. I can’t explain why Carrigg doesn’t run more, as he has shown the ability to steal bags throughout his college and minor league career. But I’m going to assume that at some point you’re going to start running a lot.
Results
Entering the season, Cole Carrigg was not a top 100 prospect. But he is showing that he can be a solid player for the dynasty. He currently averages 24 homers, 124 RBI, 138 runs scored, and 12 steals in 162 games with a slash line of .307/.385/.580. We all know that’s not going to happen – at least 138 runs scored and 124 RBI. That would put him in the top tier, and Carrigg is no superstar.
But he’s a good hitter, and the fact that he’s a switch hitter helps keep him out of the platoon situation. And so far he is showing that he can succeed on both fronts. From the left side of the plate, he is slashing .283/.414/.587 with two homers and 11 RBI in 46 at-bats. The righty is hitting .333/.348/.571 with two homers and 10 RBI in 42 at-bats.
The main concern with Carrigg is one that applies to almost all Colorado hitters – the home/road divide. In 15 home games, he is hitting .348/.400/.652 with two homers and 12 RBI. In 12 road games, that slash line dipped to .262/.367/.500 with two homers and nine RBI. My favorite numbers, though, are the two homers on the road versus the two at home.
Colorado has a lot of ground in the outfield, which leads to a lot of hits. But the fact that his home runs are split between home and road games is a strong indication that he won’t be beaten by Coors Field. The sample size is small, but Carrigg has a .500 SLG away from Coors Field and his 162 game road average is 27 homers and 122 RBI for that .262/.367/.500 slash line. So he’s not a hitter at home, but he’s shown to be more productive away from Coors Field.
During his time at San Diego State, Carrigg played 27 games at third, 21 at second, five at catcher, and one at first base. But since becoming a champion, most of his time has been spent in center field, as he is an above-average outfielder with arm strength reaching the 99th percentile. But he can also play shortstop in a pinch, having appeared in 45 games at that position in the minors and two so far with the Rockies.
But center seems to be Carrigg’s primary home, and with the Rockies having yet another terrible regular season, there’s a good chance Jake McCarthy will be traded, leaving center for Carrigg to seek full-time.
If you have a hole in your outfield, Cole Carrigg is the player to go after. His power numbers are a little ahead of what he did in the minors, but I think he’s a 20-homer guy. And while his steals are low, I think that will change over time. Ultimately, he is a player that I think will help your team.
Thank you
Thanks for reading, and come back next week.
