Rockies’ high-profile prospects Riley Pint, Michael Toglia and Zac Veen still waiting to break out

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The trio was projected to be a bedrock of the Rockies’ future:

• Riley Pint, the high school kid with the 102 mph fastball, had aspirations of being a flamethrowing starter in the majors.

• Michael Toglia was tabbed as an athletic power hitter with the potential to be the Rockies’ best homegrown first baseman since Todd Helton.

• Zac Veen, gifted with power and speed, was drafted straight out of high school to be the club’s next great outfielder.

Where are they now?

None of the three has made an impact at the big-league level as the Rockies struggled through five consecutive losing seasons. All three realize, to varying degrees, that this is a critical spring training for them.

“It’s very important,” Pint said. “You don’t get too many of these opportunities, so you have to make them count.”

Following is a look at the high-profile trio’s past, present and future:

Right-hander Riley Pint

Pint, now 26, was the fourth overall pick in the 2016 draft out of St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland, Kan. He got a $4.8 million signing bonus, along with the pressure that comes with being a bonus baby.

Now, more than seven years later, after several injuries, recurring bouts of wildness, one retirement and one comeback, Pint has pitched just one-third of an inning in the majors. But his still-golden arm and intriguing potential have kept him on Colorado’s 40-man roster, albeit as a reliever.

“There are still people in our organization who believe in the talent and believe in the person,” general manager Bill Schmidt said Tuesday. “We are going to play it out and see where he is.”

Pitching for Triple-A Albuquerque last season, Pint went 3-4 with a 6.14 ERA in 47 relief appearances. The good news: Pint’s 52 2⁄3 innings were the most since 2017, his first full professional season, and he averaged 13.3 strikeouts per nine innings, thanks to a wicked slider. The bad news: He walked 8.9 batters per nine and a lack of fastball command continues to dog him.

“The slider always comes out good and it’s probably my No. 1 pitch right now,” Pint said. “I’m trying to get the fastball to synch up with it. I’m trying to get the mechanics right.”

Pint says he knows what the key is for him to finally become a full-time big-leaguer.

“I just need to be more consistent,” he said. “My mechanics need to be more consistent, day in a day out.”

Manager Bud Black knows what he wants to see from Pint during this camp.

“In a nutshell, what we’d like to see is progress with three main things,” Black said. “First comes an under-control, consistent delivery. With that comes his arm slot and release point. There has been some variability with that since he came back (from retirement).

“There has to be a comfort level within Riley because there has to be a comfort level with an athlete where he feels comfortable in his own skin to be able to perform.

“Thirdly, there has to be marked improvement in his performance. The walk rate has to come down, the ball-strike ratio has to be better. He’s got devastating stuff and we have seen glimpses of that. His stuff translates to being dominant in the big leagues.”

First baseman Michael Toglia

Toglia, who was drafted out of UCLA with the 23rd overall pick in 2019, has lived up to expectations with his glove at first base. He’s also shown he can make the transition to the outfield. But at the plate, he’s struggled mightily. Last season, in 45 games (152 plate appearances), he slashed .163/.224/.284, with four homers, five doubles and nine RBIs. His strikeout rate was 32.9% and his walk rate was only 6.6%.

“Too many of our young guys have too large a gap between their strikeout rate and their walk rate,” Black said. “Michael is included in that group.”

Toglia, 25, said he will never give up being a switch hitter, despite some dramatic splits. Last season, he slashed .109/.146/.109 with no home runs vs. left-handers and .189/.260/.368 with four home runs vs. righties. Toglia also said he would continue his aggressive approach at the plate.

“I feel like when I’m aggressive in the box and not so defensive, I’m the best version of myself,” said Toglia, who played winter ball in Monterrey, Mexico, with longtime Rockies player and special assistant Vinny Castilla as his manager.

“I’m not going to allow anything outside, be it that pitcher or whatever, to take me out of that aggressiveness,” Toglia continued. “I want to be ready to hit the pitch that I want with the intent to do damage with it.”

Toglia faces a lot of competition at first base, where he’s behind Kris Bryant and Elehuris Montero on the depth chart, and also at the corner outfield spots where the Rockies are loaded with talented prospects. It would behoove him to bust out this spring.

“None of us are in any player’s head, and we are still getting to know Michael to a certain extent,” Black said. “But I like what he’s said (about being aggressive). The proof will be in the pudding. It’s fine to swing at the first pitch and be aggressive, but it’s got to be a good pitch to hit. That’s the crux of it.”

Right fielder Zac Veen

Veen, the ninth overall pick in 2020 out of Florida’s Spruce Creek High School, is only 22. His future remains bright, but a left wrist injury suffered while diving for a ball with High-A Spokane in 2022 proved costly. The injury eventually required surgery last summer, cost him most of the season, and put his big-league debut on hold.

Playing for Double-A Hartford in the pitching-rich Northeastern League Veen hit a mere .209 with two homers in 46 games before he admitted that he couldn’t swing the bat with any authority.

“I knew in the back of my mind that something was wrong, especially when I got to the cold weather in Hartford,” Veen said. “I was in the cage and I couldn’t get the right motion in my left hand and I made the decision that I had to do something. I wasn’t myself.”

Veen will likely begin this season back at Hartford, but Schmidt didn’t rule out Veen opening at Triple-A.

Last spring, Schmidt said it was possible that Veen would debut in 2023. What does Schmidt say now?

“Spring training will tell us a lot,” Schmidt said. “He’s come into camp looking good and he swung the bat well in his short stint in winter ball in Puerto Rico. He came in with a lot of confidence. We’re excited to see what he can do. He’s been through some stuff, but he’s acknowledged that he’s grown up a lot.”

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