Rockies Fast-Rising Rookie Joins Select Company in Win Over Pirates

TJ Rumfield's home run against Pittsburgh put him in select company with a former Colorado star.

Colorado Rockies hat and glove | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman was looking for a bullpen arm a couple of weeks before spring training started. In late January, Cashman acquired Angel Chivilli from the Colorado Rockies for first baseman TJ Rumfield.

Rumfield was the 22nd-ranked prospect of the Yankees at the time of the trade and was coming off a season where he slashed .285/.378/.447 with 16 homers and 31 doubles over 138 games for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2025. The problem for the left-handed hitter was the emergence of Ben Rice at first base in New York, along with veteran Paul Goldschmidt re-signing.

That made moving Rumfield easier for Cashman and the Rockies and the new president of baseball operations, Paul DePodesta, was able to land him. This is turning out to be an under-the-radar deal that is working out well so far for manager Warren Schaeffer and DePodesta.

Rockies TJ Rumfield Joins Select Franchise Company in Win Over Pirates

TJ Rumfield | Christopher Hanewinckel-Imagn Images

Rumfield has been a pleasant surprise for the Rockies, nearing the halfway point of the season. He had a tremendous month of May that earned him National League Rookie of the Month honors. Rumfield had four home runs, drove in 12 runs and had a .310 batting average. He began June hot, but had a home run against the Los Angeles Angels taken away and turned into a four-base error.

On Friday night, Colorado opened a three-game weekend series against the Pittsburgh Pirates and Rumfield had a home run that allowed him to join a select franchise company. A fourth-inning solo home run gave the Rockies a 2-0 lead in what turned into a 4-3 win for Colorado. His blast was his 11th of the season.

According to Patrick Lyons of Just Baseball, Trevor Story is the only first-year Rockies rookie to have more home runs through 76 games than Rumfield. Story did it in 2016 with 19 homers and there was no way that Rumfield was going to tie or surpass that, but what he has done is still impressive.

DePodesta and Schaeffer are looking for some younger players to build around for the future and Rumfield just might be one of them, along with third baseman Kyle Karros. After Friday night's game, Rumfield is slashing .278/.355/.475 and 38 RBIs with his 11 home runs.

In a season where things haven't gone as well as Colorado had hoped, Rumfield is someone who is making the case to be a future piece of what the Rockies are trying to build. A 20-home run campaign is certainly not out of the question for Rumfield.