Colorado Rockies On SI

This 17-Year-Old Rockies Prospect Is Primed for Massive 2026

This young Rockies shortstop just had an incredible debut season, to set up a potentially massive 2026 breakout.

Tobey Schulman

Jun 15, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of a Colorado Rockies hat and glove on the bench against the Atlanta Braves in the ninth inning at Truist Park.
Jun 15, 2023; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of a Colorado Rockies hat and glove on the bench against the Atlanta Braves in the ninth inning at Truist Park. / Brett Davis-Imagn Images
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The Colorado Rockies have multiple young names within their Complex and Dominican Summer League rosters that need to have more tabs kept on them. Prospects like Roldy Brito and Cristian Arguelles have been at the forefront of headlines, but there’s another to know.

17-year-old shortstop Sebastian Blanco is coming off of a fantastic debut season within the Rockies organization. In 54 games in the DSL, he’s proven to be a name that Colorado fans should follow closely during the 2026 season.

Blanco, a native of Caracas, Venezuela signed with the organization just six days after his 17th birthday. He’d then be assigned to the DSL, where he would have a standout debut season in his first taste of professional baseball.

In 203 at-bats this season, Blanco finished with a slashline of .345/.449/.453 with a .902 OPS. He’d finish the season with three home runs, seven doubles, three triples, and 11 stolen bases. His 140 wRC+ was good for top five among all hitters in the Rockies minor league system.

Blanco was one of just two bats on the Colorado DSL roster to tally at least 70 hits. He would finish the year with the most runs scored at 60, and the third most runs batted in out of the DSL crop with 37. 

He showed incredibly advanced plate discipline for his age. He walked nearly as much as he struck out in his debut season, posting a walk rate of 13.3% with a strikeout rate of 13.7%. Not only was the discipline great, but Blanco also showed the ability to make great swing decisions.

The right-handed hitter was a rather careful hitter, only swinging 38.6% of the time. When he did swing, he made contact at a fantastic 81.4% clip. 

He limited swing-and-miss better than a majority his age would, posting a 7.2% SwStr%. His full Statcast Plate Discipline profile can be found on FanGraphs.

As far as Blanco’s quality of contact went, nearly half of his batted balls were pull-side, with a 47.9% Pull%. He managed to limit ground-ball contact well at a 36.8% rate, with nearly 30% of his batted balls being line drives.

The overall hit tool Blanco possesses at just 17 years old is special. For an organization that will rely so heavily on its farm system bats, it’s very encouraging to see for Colorado. His age-18 season will be a very interesting one to keep track of for Rockies fans. 

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Tobey Schulman
TOBEY SCHULMAN

Tobey Schulman is a freelance writer currently covering baseball in the South Florida area, independently on X and SubStack. Prior to freelancing, Tobey was a writer for The Skippers View, covering both Major and Minor League Baseball. Over the past year, he has grown a following of almost 10,000 on X, while covering all things across the sport, both professional and amateur. In his free time he produces and live streams a podcast ‘Inside The Diamond’, where he co-hosts player interviews, breakdowns, and game watch parties.

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