The Rockies have been waiting for their next Todd Helton since, well, Todd Helton.
While it’s ridiculously early to tell how Michael Toglia will measure up to No. 17, his big-league career began Tuesday night in Colorado’s 3-2 victory at Truist Park.
Toglia, 24, promoted from Triple-A Albuquerque, started at first base and hit seventh. He went 0-for-4 with two groundouts and a popup but reached base in the eighth on a fielding error by second baseman Vaughn Grissom.
Drafted by the Rockies out of UCLA in 2019 with the 23rd pick of the first round, Toglia played in 114 games between Double-A Hartford and Triple-A. The switch-hitter launched 30 home runs and stole seven bases, and he’s slashed .249/.341/.510 and walked at a 12.1% clip, but he has a 30.1% strikeout rate.
At Hartford, Toglia slashed .234/.329/.466 with 23 home runs and 66 RBIs in 97 games. In 17 games in Triple-A, he was hitting .333/.413/.758 with seven home runs and 17 RBIs. It wasn’t just his recent tear at the plate that prompted the Rockies to promote him.
“I know how this business works,” Toglia told MLB.com. “It’s not necessarily one good or bad game that will send you up or down. But I felt my process over the last six weeks or two months is what got me here.”
In spring training, Toglia began to work with Helton, who’s been tutoring Rockies minor leaguers most of the season. Helton played 17 seasons in the majors, all with Colorado.
“He still needs to work on his lower half, getting his feet in tune with his upper body (defensively),” Helton told The Post in July. “But other than that, he can really field the baseball. He works hard at it. He can use some work at the plate, but there is really nothing big he needs to work on defensively.”
While Toglia has primarily played first base for most of his pro career, he did play nine games in right field this season.
Colorado won their second consecutive road game against a playoff contender (they beat the Mets, 1-0, on Sunday) with timely hitting. The Rockies tied the game two-all with a two-run fourth inning off Braves All-Star right-hander Max Fried. Brendan Rodgers led off with a triple and scored on C.J. Cron’s grounder. Cron scored on Elehuris Montero’s double.
The Rockies scored the go-ahead run in the fifth on Cron’s groundout to second. The Rockies loaded the bases with no outs, and although they managed to squeeze out just one run, it was enough.
After an erratic first inning, right-hander Jose Urena settled in, providing the Rockies with five solid innings, yielding two runs on six hits, with two walks and two strikeouts.
Bouchard’s first hit
Colorado also recalled outfielder Sean Bouchard from Triple-A. He started in left field, batted eighth and recorded his first big-league hit in the sixth inning, lacing a two-out single to left off right-handed reliever Jay Jackson. Bouchard hit a first-pitch fastball.
Bouchard, 26, was called up in June and played in three games for the big-league club before he went on the injured list with a left oblique strain. He was then shipped down to Albuquerque.
“It happened after my second game, which is never fun,” Bouchard told MLB.com. “But the old saying is that it’s those curveballs, sometimes you got to adjust. The goal was to just to get healthy, go back down, play well and get those reps.”
In 69 games for the Isotopes, the ninth-round draft pick in the 2017 draft slashed .300/.404/.635 with 20 home runs and 56 RBIs.
Roster shuffle
In corresponding moves, outfielders Wynton Bernard and Sam Hilliard were optioned to Triple-A. Colorado already had a vacancy on its 40-man roster for Toglia.
Bryant update
Manager Bud Black told reporters in Atlanta Tuesday that left fielder Kris Bryant, out with plantar fasciitis, has spent more time out of his walking boot and has increased his exercise after undergoing a PRP (platelet-rich plasma) treatment. Black said that it will be another week to 10 days before he can provide an update as to whether Bryant will play again this season.
Bryant has played in only 42 of Colorado’s 130 games.
