Rockies send down scorching hot top prospect

Charlie Condon will not break camp with the Colorado Rockies.

The Rockies made the expected yet still disappointing move Thursday, reassigning top hitting prospect Charlie Condon to minor league camp along with infielder/outfielder Cole Carrigg and infielder/outfielder Vimael Machín.

Colorado has 40 active players remaining in major league camp, including seven non-roster invitees.

The move comes despite Condon raking this spring, slashing .389/.452/.722 with three home runs and nine RBIs in Cactus League play. The 22-year-old has looked every bit the part of a major leaguer ready to contribute immediately, according to reports from Arizona.

Condon, who has an outfield and third base glove was actually trying to win the team’s job at first base. It’s a gig that, for now, will likely be shared between some combination of Troy Johnston, TJ Rumfield and Blaine Crim.

The send down shows that for the Rockies, a small market team, service time manipulation remains the name of the game.

By keeping Condon in the minors for approximately two weeks to start the season, Colorado can delay his free agency by an entire year — pushing his earliest departure from 2031 to 2032. It’s a move teams across baseball continue to make despite widespread criticism from players and fans alike.

MLB’s new collective bargaining agreement attempted to address this practice by allowing players to recoup service time if they win major awards like Rookie of the Year in their first season. Had Condon stayed on the opening day roster and captured hardware, he could have negated the manipulation entirely. MLB.com even named him the most likely Rookie of the Year winner from the NL West earlier this month.

But the Rockies apparently weren’t willing to take that chance.

Condon, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 draft out of Georgia, is ranked as the No. 70 overall prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline and the club’s No. 2 prospect behind Ethan Holliday. After signing in 2024, he had a rough first year in pro ball. Last year was much better, across three levels and ending in Double-A, he showed the elite bat-to-ball skills and raw power that made him the SEC Player of the Year. He totaled a .820 OPS over 99 games last year, most which were in Hartford.

He’ll likely open 2026 at Triple-A Albuquerque, waiting for that service time clock to start ticking in the Rockies’ favor. It’s the opposite approach they took to Chase Dollander last year, who started on opening weekend, but with new management in Paul DePodesta comes an old strategy.

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