With just a few weeks remaining in the rookie-league season for the Grand Junction Rockies, manager Jake Opitz has seen enough to understand the talent on his roster.
Five of his players rank in the top 15 in batting average in the Pioneer League, with outfielder Brenton Doyle pacing Grand Junction at .364. He’s followed by utilityman Colin Simpson (.333) and infielders Eddy Diaz (.331), Christian Koss (.327) and Julio Carreras (.294).
Doyle, Colorado’s fourth-round pick and the first Division-II player selected in the draft this year, has lived up to the hype coming out of Shepherd University in West Virginia despite missing about three weeks with a broken cheekbone.