Picture this: It’s the summer of 2027, and two emerging stars are making Coors Field a true baseball draw again.
The Rockies are competitive for the first time in a decade, and just wrapped up a critical late-August series win over the Dodgers. Chase Dollander spun a gem to catapult Colorado into first place in the NL West, and first-time all-star Jordan Beck hit the game-winning homer, his 30th of the year.
While that may seem like a purple-tinted tableau right now, as the Rockies are tracking toward another 100-loss season, it could be reality. Dollander and Beck, once college teammates at Tennessee, have all the tools to be pillars of the Rockies’ resurgence in due time.
They won’t be able to make Colorado relevant by themselves, of course.
The Rockies will need to hit on more starting pitchers to assist Dollander in revitalizing the rotation — guys like Carson Palmquist and Gabriel Hughes, with some possible help from Antonio Senzatela and Kyle Freeland at the end of their contracts.
The Rockies will also need solid bats to match Beck’s ability to hit for power and average — guys like Adael Amador, Drew Romo, Yanquiel Fernandez and Sterling Thompson, in addition to then-veterans Ryan McMahon and Ezequiel Tovar.
But make no mistake: Dollander and Beck are central figures in whatever hope there is for the rebuild. Their timetables for arrival in LoDo are different, but their potential impact in reshaping the franchise is equally gargantuan.
Dollander just started his pro career in High-A Spokane this year, where last year’s No. 9 overall pick opened with a good omen, tossing five shutout innings. He has a 2.93 ERA over three starts after getting shut down after the draft in 2023 due to his high workload at Tennessee.
The right-hander’s got a ways to go before we see him in purple pinstripes — his ETA is likely 2026 — but he has the stuff and the makeup of a future No. 1 starter.
The stuff? A high-90s fastball paired with plus breaking pitches (slider and curveball) as well as a developing changeup. It’s a four-pitch mix that’s got swing-and-miss and the ability to keep Colorado in games at hitter-friendly Coors Field.
“In college, I could go out there and stand with my glove on my head,” Beck said. “That’s what you want when you’re watching a guy throw, and you turn around and look at the scoreboard, and he’s throwing 98. That’s only going to continue. He’s going to be the real deal.”
The makeup? A guy who already walked through fire with the Vols, when he went from a national darling as a sophomore (10-0 with a 2.39 ERA and 108 strikeouts) to a draft question mark as a junior (120 K’s, but a 4.75 ERA amid some regression).
“I found that toward the beginning of my junior year, I was really thinking about how much people were worried about how I was performing rather than just focusing on myself and the team I had around me,” Dollander said. “I kind of got lost in what people were saying about me, so it became really hard, but I started working with a mental performance coach, and as soon as that happened everything turned around and I started pitching a lot better.
“The way I was able to handle that was taking it day-by-day and knowing that I need to just put one foot in front of the other. That’s the way I’m handling everything now.”
Beck is expected to arrive in the bigs much sooner, likely this summer with the way he continues to hit. After tearing up High-A in 2023 (Northwest League MVP) and then showing well in Double-A, Beck’s making Triple-A look like light work.
Through Thursday, the player Dollander describes as “a different animal” is batting .315 with five homers while seeing time in left, right and center.
Amid the hits and the hype, Beck’s staying patient. The outfielder saw how his roommate over the past couple years, Hunter Goodman, mashed his way to the majors. Beck plans on doing the same.
“I want to help in any way I can, as quickly as I can,” Beck said. “But I’m not going to dwell upon it either. I’m just going to keep playing ball, and when it happens, it happens.”
With Brenton Doyle entrenched in center field for the time being, Beck’s continued impressive play could make one of the Rockies outfielders currently on one-year contracts (Sean Bouchard and Jake Cave) expendable. Since Beck is not on the 40-man, Colorado could DFA one of those players in order to make room for Beck on the roster.
Another option? If Kris Bryant’s back continues to be an issue in the second half of the summer, the Rockies could put Bryant (at a $28 million salary, he’s trending toward a second straight negative WAR season) on the 60-day injured list to make room.
Whatever the case, Beck should be in LoDo by the end of the year, even if for a late-season call-up. And Dollander, considering his collegiate experience, should be in Double-A by the same time.
This isn’t to say there won’t be major-league growing pains for each player. But it’s best for the Rockies, who have no hope of winning right now, to get both players to the bigs ASAP and fast-track that acclimation. Should they do that, the club just might have its newest faces of the franchise by 2027.
So mark your magnetic fridge calendars. And if Beck’s bat and Dollander’s arm reach their full potential, you might want to clear that year’s October schedule as well.
Rockies pitching prospect Chase Dollander delivers a pitch during a High-A Spokane Indians game in April 2024.
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