SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Colorado Rockies prospect Charlie Condon is ending 2025 where he began it here in Scottsdale. However, as the Arizona Fall League schedule starts to wind down, Condon is also making sure he’s remembering his time in Scottsdale this year as a positive memory.

It was on the back fields of the Salt River Fields complex in mid-March that Condon’s year got off to a painful start. Diving for a ball during a minor league game, the third overall pick in the 2024 draft suffered a non-displaced fracture in his left wrist. With the injury, he wouldn’t make his season debut until May 5 and eventually ended the season in Double-A after being called up to Hartford on July 2.

Condon had an up-and-down stint in Hartford, finishing with a .235 average and 67 strikeouts in 200 at-bats, but also hit 11 homers and drove in 38 runs. A lot of the lessons he learned with the promotion to Double-A carry over into his Arizona Fall League at-bats.

“At first, you get in there, and it feels like a big step up. But then, as you do anywhere else, you kind of settle in,” Condon said of his time in the Eastern League. “For me, it was embracing it for the challenge that it is and understanding that it’s supposed to be hard. It’s hard for everybody. At the same time, it’s understanding that you fit in and belong there, regardless of whenever the competition feels hard.”

Condon said his biggest lesson for 2025 started with the March injury.

“I think the biggest one is not taking health for granted. That’s a big one,” Condon said. “I think a lot of times you get caught up in the ups and downs of the game, and you don’t even realize how lucky you are to be playing it.

“I was just really proud of how things started slower for me this year, and being able to not have that define my whole season. Even after the promotion, when I knew I was getting ready to go play a tougher brand of baseball, being able to lock in and have some really good things to build on. Now it’s about continuing to ride that upward slope going into next season.”

Early impressions of Trey Yesavage still linger for Rockies prospect

Trey Yesavage became a household name during the World Series for his meteoric rise through the Toronto Blue Jays’ system as much as for his performance.

The right-hander started the year in Low-A and touched every level of the minors before making his MLB debut on Sept. 15. After three regular-season starts, he took the mound five times in the postseason, including a 12-strikeout performance in 7 innings during World Series Game 5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

One of those stops for Yesavage earlier this season came at Double-A New Hampshire. In his seven starts there, he faced Hartford twice, including a game on July 26 where he threw four scoreless and hitless innings while striking out five.

“I’ll be honest with you, I’m not surprised by what he’s doing. He was pretty dominant when we faced him,” recalled Rockies prospect Jared Thomas said. “He has a really good fastball and coming out of that high slot, everything plays really well off that, including his offspeed stuff.

“I wish him the best of luck. He’s going to be a good pitcher for a long time.”

Shaking off the rust

Rockies pitching prospect Ben Shields, acquired in the trade that sent Jake Bird to the New York Yankees, made his long-awaited AFL debut on Wednesday. After being struck in the shoulder by a line drive on September 9 while pitching for Hartford, Shields not only missed the end of the regular season but also the start of AFL action while recovering.

However, Shields’ AFL debut didn’t go as planned, with the 26-year-old left-hander allowing four hits and five runs while recording just one out in Salt River’s 10-1 loss to Peoria. He threw just 30 pitches, with 16 going for strikes.

On the surface, the numbers aren’t great, but Rockies pitching strategies coordinator Flint Wallace, who is with the Rafters this fall, attributed the down outing to Shields’ long layoff.

“It was just rust,” Wallace said. “He hasn’t been out on the mound against hitters in a game in over six weeks, so he missed some locations. The stuff was there, but it was just barely missing here or there.

“I don’t think he quite felt 100 percent, but it was good enough to get out there. It was good that we got him back out there where he needed to be.”