Highly regarded prospect Jordan Beck won the Colorado Rockies’ Abby Greer Award as the National League team’s Most Valuable Player during spring training as he had a .370 batting average and .519 slugging percentage in 18 Cactus League games last year.
But the former Hazel Green High School standout still started the 2024 season with the Albuquerque Isotopes, Colorado’s Triple-A affiliate.
This year, Beck didn’t match those spring-training stats as hit .231 with a .446 slugging percentage. But he left Scottsdale, Arizona, as a member of the Rockies’ regular-season roster this week.
“You show up at the ballpark every day to compete,” Beck said. “Sometimes it doesn’t roll your way. We might be looking at numbers, but what matters is: When the last cut is done, it’s how many ballgames can you win, and can you help your team win? That’s what I’m out here trying to do.”
Beck was batting .182 with two home runs and a .318 slugging percentage in the Cactus League before going 7-of-21 with two doubles and two home runs in his final seven spring-training games.
“Jordan Beck made a little bit of a push here lately with four home runs,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “He’s playing good defense. He had the experience coming up last year. Unfortunately, he broke his hand, but we think he’s ready to make that next step of development.”
Colorado drafted Beck from Tennessee with the 38th pick in 2022. He made his MLB debut on April 30, 2024 — less than two years after being drafted.
Beck fractured his left hand on May 25, and he didn’t play for the Rockies again until Aug. 13.
Around the injury, Beck batted .188 with 14 runs, 13 RBIs, three home runs and seven stolen bases in 55 games. In the minors, Beck batted .284 with 142 runs, 145 RBIs, 36 home runs and 26 stolen bases in 194 games after leaving Tennessee.
Colorado has Brenton Doyle in center field coming off consecutive Gold Glove seasons.
The corner spots in the outfield got more crowded this week when the Rockies signed Mickey Moniak after the No. 1 pick of the 2016 draft was released by the Los Angeles Angels. Colorado now has right-handed hitters Beck and Sean Bouchard and left-handed hitters Moniak and Nick Martini to pair with Doyle.
“This is as versatile a team that we’ve had in a while,” Black said. “The outfielders are multi-positional players. Some left-right combinations, some speed and then you throw in Tyler Freeman, who can play the outfielder and in the infield.”
The Rockies open their season against the Tampa Bay Rays at 3:10 p.m. CDT Friday at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, Florida. The Rays are playing at the New York Yankees’ spring-training home because Hurricane Milton wrecked Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg in October.
At Hazel Green, Beck won the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Class 6A Player of the Year and Class 6A Hitter of the Year awards for the 2019 season. A first-team All-State selection in 2017 and 2019 and a second-team choice in 2018, Beck helped the Trojans win the AHSAA Class 6A championship in 2018.
Beck also was a third-team All-State pick in basketball for the 2017-18 season, when Hazel Green reached the semifinals of the AHSAA Class 6A tournament.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.