Rockies To Sign Keston Hiura, Nick Martini To Minor League Deals

The Rockies have agreed to minor league deals with infielder Keston Hiura and outfielder Nick Martini, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Both players will receive an invite to Colorado’s major league spring camp. Hiura is represented by CAA Sports, while Martini is represented by Meister Sports Management.

Hiura, 28, has shown huge power potential in the majors. Unfortunately, that has been undercut by a massive strikeout problem. At this point, he has 1,084 major league plate appearances. 50 of those resulted in homers but 390 ended with a strikeout, a 36% punchout rate.

In 2024, he was only in the majors briefly, as the Angeles had him on the roster for a few weeks in July. He got 27 plate appearances in 10 games, hitting .148 with ten strikeouts. He also stepped to the plate 364 times at the Triple-A level, between the Tigers’ and Angels’ systems, hitting 26 home runs but striking out 29.4% of the time. Defensively, Hiura came up as a second baseman but his glovework hasn’t been well regarded at that spot. That’s led him to spend more time at first base, with a few stops in left field along the way.

With the big strikeouts and lack of defensive contributions, Hiura hasn’t managed to contribute much in his career yet. However, he’s a fine enough depth add for the Rockies. They’ve lost over 100 games in two straight seasons now, so competing in 2025 will be a challenge. There could be a path to playing time in the club’s first base/designated hitter mix. Kris Bryant will be one option there but he’s coming off three straight injury-marred seasons. Michael Toglia is also in the mix but he’s fairly Hiura-esque himself, having hit 25 home runs last year with a 32.1% strikeout rate.

Perhaps an injury to someone in that group, or someone in the corner outfield mix, could open up some playing time for Hiura. If he gets a roster spot, watching him hit at Coors Field could make for a good show. He is out of options but has less than four years of service time.

Martini, 35 in June, has a far less extreme profile. He has 575 career plate appearances over five separate seasons. His 9.6% walk rate and 21.7% strikeout rate are both slightly better than average. His .252/.336/.400 batting line leads to a 101 wRC+, indicating he’s been very slightly above average as a hitter in his career. Defensively, he’s played all three outfield slots, though mostly in left. His glovework there has been graded just a shade below par.

The outfield mix in Colorado projects to include Brenton Doyle, Nolan Jones, Sam Hilliard, Jordan Beck, Greg Jones, Sean Bouchard, Zac Veen and others. If Martini gets a roster spot at any point, he is out of options but has less than three years of service time.