Vince Fernandez was drafted out of UC Riverside in the 10th round of the 2016 draft by the Colorado Rockies. He was a very solid D1 player, showing good pop and on-base skills. He hit .350/.431/.509 with 8 HR during his junior season prior to the draft. I was lucky enough to snag him while UC Riverside was playing against Hawaii.
He has been a very pleasant surprise since going pro. In 2018 he spent the entire season in High-A and had a very solid campaign. He had some contact issues (172 K’s in 423 at-bats), but he also has enough feel for the strike zone to walk a decent amount (65). The strikeouts can be forgiven due to his plus power–he cranked a career-high 24 HR. All told he hit .265/.370/.532.
He opened the 2018 season as one of the Rockies Top 20 prospects and has only improve on that status during the season. He keeps this up next year in AA he might very well end up cracking the major league roster in late 2019 or early 2020.
| Year | Age | AgeDif | Tm | Lev | G | AB | H | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 20 | -0.6 | Grand Junction | Rk | 51 | 203 | 63 | 5 | 31 | 6 | 2 | 20 | 61 | .310 | .370 | .527 | .897 |
| 2017 | 21 | -0.5 | Asheville | A | 100 | 375 | 101 | 16 | 59 | 12 | 8 | 44 | 122 | .269 | .352 | .464 | .816 |
| 2018 | 22 | -0.3 | Lancaster | A+ | 117 | 423 | 112 | 24 | 75 | 10 | 5 | 65 | 172 | .265 | .370 | .532 | .902 |
| All | All | All | All | 268 | 1001 | 276 | 45 | 165 | 28 | 15 | 129 | 355 | .276 | .363 | .505 | .869 |