The Rockies announced Wednesday that they’ve claimed infielder/outfielder Troy Johnston off waivers from the Marlins. Colorado also reinstated Kris Bryant and righty Jeff Criswell from the 60-day injured list, adding both back to the 40-man roster.
Johnston, 28, was a 17th-round pick by Miami back in 2019 and has been a career-long Marlin to this point. He made his big league debut this season after a lengthy run of productive campaigns n the upper minors. The Gonzaga product hit .277/.331/.420 with four home runs in 121 plate appearances during his first run at the MLB level.
In Johnston, the Rockies are adding an older but controllable player with a strong minor league track record. Johnston is a career .281/.367/.458 hitter in seven minor league seasons. His .267/.345/.438 slash in parts of four Triple-A campaigns is weighed down a bit by an awful debut there back in 2022 (116 plate appearances), but he’s been an above-average hitter with the Marlins’ top affiliate in Jacksonville each season since.
Though Johnston has primarily been a first baseman in the minors, with more than 4300 innings logged at the position, he’s also suited up for 826 innings in left field and 492 innings in right field. Since his contract was selected to the 40-man roster for the first time this season and he wasn’t optioned back down thereafter, he’ll join the Rox with a full slate of three minor league option years remaining.
It’s not entirely clear who’s making roster calls in the Colorado front office at the moment. The Rockies fired GM Bill Schmidt shortly after the season, and longtime assistant GM Zack Rosenthal left the club shortly thereafter. Owner Dick Monfort and his son, executive vice president Walker Monfort, have been conducting a search for a new baseball operations leader over the past month but have yet to announce a hire. It’s possible they’re making calls with input from some of the still-remaining midlevel baseball operations executives while continuing through a hiring process that as of last week was down to two finalists but once again appears more wide open.
Johnston could be a sneaky good bench piece for Colorado, had a nice showing as a rookie last year in Miami.
So if Bryant is removed from the 60 Day Injured List, he must now be magically healed and ready to resume all baseball activities. (Sarcasm Intended of yet another antiquated and out of date MLB Rule in need of review/updating/elimination.)
Go Zags!
The question of the day for Rocky fans, yes, there are several of us left, is, who is making these calls? Do we somehow have a “deep state” organization within the meat packing industry?
“It’s not entirely clear who’s making roster calls in the Colorado front office”
Is it ever?
Yeah! Kris Bryant off the IL and ready to play. What? The season’s over? Well, at least there’s only 3 more months til he gets back on the IL.
I have watched him play the past couple years. Trust me, it is better when he is on the IL and not on the field.