Top prospect showing level head in first MLB camp

This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding's Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The Rockies are making their right-handed pitcher of the future -- MLB Pipeline No. 25 prospect Chase Dollander -- a part of the present.

During Rockies Fest last month, veteran left-handed pitcher Austin Gomber and righty Ryan Feltner invited Dollander and several up-and-coming players to dinner in Denver -- a place aspiring players want to call home.

It was a good gesture at a time when a young player¡¯s head can spin. However, Dollander -- the ninth overall pick in the 2023 Draft out of the University of Tennessee, and the owner of a combined 2.59 ERA and 169 strikeouts in 118 innings with High-A Spokane and Double-A Hartford in his first professional season last year -- is cool enough to know which way is up.

Or at least, to know his way to the strike zone.

¡°It¡¯s exciting, for sure,¡± said Dollander, who had his first official Major League camp workout on Thursday. ¡°But nothing changes. It¡¯s still baseball. It¡¯s 60 feet, 6 inches away. It¡¯s definitely a different atmosphere. You¡¯re out with different people. But I wouldn¡¯t say anything changes. It¡¯s the same game through and through.¡±

In most cases, a player enters his first Major League Spring Training realizing it¡¯s a get-to-know-you session before his Minor League ticket is punched and the apprenticeship continues. That might be the case with the 23-year-old Dollander. The Rockies have five veteran starters, and several other pitchers in camp have made big league starts.

But manager Bud Black and general manager Bill Schmidt have said all offseason that Dollander can earn a Major League job if his performance warrants it. So he¡¯s a guy folks want to know and should know.

¡°I had good veterans around me when I was a young player that were very welcoming, very including,¡± Gomber said. ¡°I hadn¡¯t met a couple of the guys, so I wanted to be able to put a face with the name and create a little bit of a relationship before we came into camp. I want guys to feel comfortable coming up to myself and Kyle [Freeland] and ask questions, and [I] want to make sure that we¡¯re here to help them.¡±

In one particular case, however, sometimes less contact is better.

Dollander said that he has met Black, but the two haven¡¯t talked since players and staff began arriving at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Black said there is no need to hit Dollander with a torrent of pointers.

¡°I want to get to know Chase and the other young pitchers that I haven¡¯t really gotten a chance to know, but we¡¯ll be around each other every day,¡± Black said. ¡°We¡¯ll be around each other every day -- morning, noon, when the game starts. There will be conversations. But I¡¯m going to let him do his thing. I¡¯ve got a lot of background from player development people.

¡°But I don¡¯t want to personally give him too much right now. He¡¯s a really talented young man. I¡¯m going to let him show it.¡±

What does Dollander intend to show?

¡°My fastball plays at the top of the zone,¡± Dollander said. ¡°Curveball, slider, changeup. To me, all those pitches have gotten a lot better. I¡¯ve shrunken everything and made them more consistent this year. I¡¯m excited to get going.¡±