MESA, Ariz. — The future pillar of the Rockies’ rotation has arrived. Well, at spring training anyway.
Ryan Rolison, Colorado’s top pitching prospect, made his Cactus League debut here Tuesday. He opened with a perfect 1-2-3 frame, and then was dinged for four unearned runs in the second inning in the Rockies’ 12-6 win over the Cubs.
The 22-year-old left-hander is the youngest pitcher in Colorado’s big-league camp and will likely start in Double-A Hartford after progressing through the Class-A ranks last season. And, as the team’s veteran arms tell it, the 2018 first-round pick hasn’t had wide eyes in Arizona.