Has Breakout Rookie Supplanted Made Struggling Michael Toglia Expendable?

The emergence of the Colorado Rockies rookie has made things interesting going forward.

May 2, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Colorado Rockies first baseman Michael Toglia (4) reacts after striking out against the San Francisco Giants during the fifth inning at Oracle Park / Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

The Colorado Rockies know they are in the danger zone.

Owners of the worst record in baseball during this past half-decade stretch, they need a lot of help going forward if they are ever going to get out of this horrendous cycle.

That means many of the star prospects they have on their roster and in their pipeline have to become difference makers, putting pressure on the players and the organization to make that happen.

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Someone the Rockies and this fanbase had high hopes for was Michael Toglia, the 2019 first-round pick who had a breakout showing last year when he hit 25 homers. He appeared liked he was going to be a future cornerstone of this franchise, becoming the power hitter that Colorado has desperately needed in the confines of their home ballpark.

Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

But Toglia has struggled this season, owning an OPS+ that's 35 points below the league average.

Because of that, the Rockies sent him back to Triple-A Albuquerque for the second time this year, only this time, there's a chance that stay could be an extended one.

That's because another one of Colorado's talented young players, Warming Bernabel, is in the midst of a breakout during his rookie campaign ever since he was called up to The Show for the first time on July 26.

While the eight-game sample size might be small, the 23-year-old is slashing a ridiculous .438/.455/.906 where eight of his 14 hits have gone for extra bases and three of them have gone over the fence.

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Warming stays hot! pic.twitter.com/7a1uMcJ7Vg

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) August 2, 2025

His eight RBI and just four strikeouts in 32 at-bats is a welcome change from what Toglia was providing, which is why Thomas Harding of MLB.com believes Bernabel has supplanted the former top prospect in the first base pecking order.

"Bernabel's hitting has allowed the Rockies to have a change of heart at first base ... The difference this time is Bernabel came up from Albuquerque and in one week supplanted Toglia, who was optioned back to Albuquerque to get regular playing time and address his strikeout rate -- 38.3 percent at the Major League level," he wrote.

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It will be interesting to see what comes out of this.

He was just named the NL Player of the Week, so if Bernabel can continue this type of performance for the rest of the season, it's hard to imagine he won't be given a real shot to be the team's primary first baseman going forward.

While the Rockies invested in Toglia with their first round pick and everything that comes with that, they also invested in Bernabel when they signed him to a $900,000 contract out of the Dominican Republic in 2018.

Colorado needs the best players on the field.

Right now, it's looking like that is Bernabel.

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