Colorado Rockies news: Troy Johnston’s .320 batting average is significant for Rockies

With 99 games remaining this season, a surprising trend has emerged for the Colorado Rockies: Two of the top hitters in 2026 weren’t on the team last season.

Considering one had only played 44 MLB games entering 2026 and the other made his MLB debut on Opening Day, Troy Johnston and TJ Rumfield have proven to be valuable offseason additions.

Rumfield, a rookie who came to Colorado from the Yankees in a trade for Angel Chivilli, is first on the Colorado leaderboards in RBI (30), tied for first with Hunter Goodman with an .819 OPS, second in hits (63), average (.286), on-base % (.359) and slugging % (.457) and third in homers with eight. His production earned the 26-year-old NL Rookie of the Month honors for May.

While Rumfield’s performance has been a delightful boost to a team that has struggled for years to find a steady first baseman, Johnston’s showing might be even more impactful. Johnston — a player more famous for his MiLB career than his MLB stint before he arrived in Colorado in November after being waived by the Marlins — has proven to bring a big personality and a big bat to the Rockies.

Going into Friday’s game with the Milwaukee Brewers, Johnston is leading the team in several offensive categories: batting average (.320), hits (63), on-base % (.377), doubles (17), BABIP (.404) and xBA (.287). He also strikes out less than your average Rockie at just 20.4%, while also walking more than most at 7.4%.

Johnston’s .320 batting average is significant for two reasons. The first is that it is fifth-best in all of MLB, only trailing league leader Otto Lopez of the Miami Marlins by .016 points. The second is that Johnston’s batting average is the highest a Rockie has had on June 5 since Nolan Arenado hit .343 in 2019. Arenado went on to finish with a .315 mark that season, which was No. 5 in the National League.

Of course, batting average isn’t as valued as a stat as it used to be, and it’s never been the best indicator for a player’s offensive talent or production. However, it does mean a lot of hits, and for a team that’s struggled offensively in the last few seasons, getting more hits is a key part of how the Rockies will have to turn the franchise around.

Including the impressive feat of Andrés Galarraga winning the NL batting title in the Rockies expansion season in 1993, Colorado players have earned 11 NL batting crowns.

Now that it’s been eight years since the last Rockie was named the NL Batting Champion, does Johnston have a shot to be in the running in 2026?

Heading into today’s game, the Rockies are just under 40% of the way through 2026. With a significant chunk of the season remaining, and Johnston already playing 14 more games than he did in his 2025 rookie campaign, he is truly entering uncharted territory.

He could end up being like Elias Díaz, who was hitting .309 and .306 in 2023 and 2024, respectively, before finishing those seasons at .267 and .265 (with San Diego). Or Jose Iglesias, who jumped out to a hot .314 start in 2022, only to cool down to .292 by the end of the season.

On the more optimistic side, Johnston’s batting average is closer to Charlie Blackmon’s at this point in the 2017 season. On June 5, Chuck Nazty was hitting .328 and went on to win the NL batting crown with a .331 mark.

Another element that Johnston has on his side is that batting averages are overall down in 2026 compared to last year. At this point in the season in 2025, Aaron Judge was flirting with .400 finish with a .392 mark and Freddie Freeman seemed untouchable at .363. Considering the Rockies 119-loss campaign, it’s no surprise that there wasn’t a Rockie in the running, as Hunter Goodman was hitting .281 on June 5 in 2025 and went on to lead the team with a .278 mark at the end of the season.

Johnston’s disadvantage comes from playing in the National League instead of the American League, as the top five batting averages right now all hail from the NL. After Lopez, Philadelphia’s Brandon March is second at .333 and San Francisco’s lineup features the next two with Luis Arráez and Jung Hoo Lee hitting .325 and .322, respectively. Johnston’s .320 would be tops in the AL, four points above Houston’s Yordan Álvarez.

Obviously, the end-of-the-season honors are four months away. Anything can happen. For now, Rockies fans can appreciate that Johnston, and Rumfield, have helped the Rockies (24-39) double their win total from this time last season when the Rockies were 12-51.

Come September, just maybe, the Rockies could have a candidate vying for the batting title. If not, maybe they’ll at least their first player to hit over .300 since 2019.

Triple-A: Salt Lake Bees 15, Albuquerque Isotopes 3

Salt Lake scored five runs in the second and four runs in the third on its way to a blowout win on Thursday. All of the Isotopes scoring came in the fifth inning when Nic Kent homered, Adael Amador hit a sac fly to score Cole Carrigg and Vimael Machín singled to score Zac Veen. Carrigg and Veen led Albuquerque with two hits apiece.

Double-A: Hartford Yard Goats 4, Portland Sea Dogs 1

Konner Eaton advanced to 3-0 after pitching six strong innings, giving up only one run on three hits with seven strikeouts and three walks for the Yard Goats. Austin Smith threw two scoreless innings for the hold, while Andrew Baker added another scoreless frame for the save. Aidan Longwell hit a two-run homer in the fourth to help Hartford jump out to a lead it never lost. Bryant Betancourt added a two-run single in the seventh for insurance. Andy Perez added two singles and scored a run and Roc Roggio doubled.

High-A: Spokane Indians 2, Hillsboro Hops 1

Jack O’Dowd’s fantastic season continued on Thursday night as he drew a bases-loaded walk for a walk-off win in the bottom of the ninth. The winning inning was anything but easy. It started when Kevin Fitzer led off with a single, but then Kelvin Hildago popped out on a bunt. When Tommy Hofpe doubled, it seemed like that would be the walk-off win, but Fitzer got thrown out at home. With two outs, Jacob Humphrey drew an intentional walk before Ethan Hedges walked to load the bases to set up the winning walk. The Indians drew seven walks on the night with three coming in the ninth.

Lebarron Johnson Jr. started strong on the mound for Spokane, giving up one run in five innings with four strikeouts and Fisher Jameson added three scoreless innings, but the Indians were still trailing going into the bottom of the eighth. That’s when Robert Calaz singled to score Hedges to tie the game to set up the walk-off.

Low-A: Lake Elsinore Storm 10, Fresno Grizzlies 4

Fresno committed five errors that led to two unearned runs and did enough damage that the Storm’s six hits, compared to the Grizzlies eight, weren’t enough to even make this one close. With a fielder’s choice that scored Carlos Renzullo and a Kyle Fossum sac fly, Fresno cut Lake Elsinore’s lead to 3-2 in the fourth inning, but it went all downhill from there. In the ninth inning, Roldy Brito hit an RBI double in the bottom of the ninth and Jeremy Ciriaco grounded out to score another run, but the rally came up well short.

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Jeff Pasan does something unusual for national media: almost praises the Rockies and presents an optimistic tone since the Rockies have Paul DePodesta in charge and might be able to avoid some of their loyalty mistakes of the past. He believes Antonio Senzatela is the best player available but that “nobody on their roster is untouchable” as long as the Rockies and Dick Monfort can “Actually rebuild correctly this time.”

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