The 2026 Major League Baseball regular season concluded Sunday afternoon with Turlock product and standout Rockies rookie Cole Carrigg going deep for the 12th time this year in a 4-2 loss to the White Sox in Chicago’s South Side. It was the exclamation mark on a stellar rookie season that also earned one of the league’s highest monthly honors.
It was announced by MLB on Monday morning that Carrigg earned National League Rookie of the Month honors.
The 2020 graduate of Turlock High School finished September hitting .327 with 32 hits, six home runs, 11 extra-base hits, 17 RBI, a .571 slugging percentage and a .911 OPS. His home run, slugging and extra-base hit marks led all NL rookies this month.
Carrigg, the 65th overall pick out of San Diego State in the 2023 MLB Draft, entered the season ranked as the No. 6 prospect in the Colorado system, per MLB Pipeline. He was called up for his big league debut on June 9 against the Chicago Cubs at Coors Field in Denver, collecting a triple and a walk in a 7-3 victory.
From there, he never looked back, reaching base safely in 24 of his first 29 games and establishing himself as one of the more consistent hitters in the Rockies lineup despite the team posting another triple-digit loss season.
Under first-year manager Warren Shaeffer, Colorado finished 58-104, the worst record in baseball and fourth straight season with more than 100 losses. Since Carrigg’s June 9 debut, the Rockies went 34-62.
In 93 games in a Rockies uniform, Carrigg slashed .279/.341/.477/.818 with 93 hits, 30 walks, 53 RBI and 50 runs scored. Of his 38 extra-base hits, 22 were doubles, four were triples and 12 were home runs. The speedster also tallied 11 stolen bases.
Among NL rookies, his triples mark ranks second, doubles fourth, RBI and walks sixth, home runs ninth, stolen bases 10th, OPS and SLG 14th and batting average and OBP 15th.
The switch-hitter was most effective from the left side of the plate, where he totaled 51 hits, nine home runs, seven doubles and four triples.
The longest home run of Carrigg’s season came just four days into his big league career, playing against best friend Tyler Soderstrom and the Athletics in Las Vegas on June 12. Batting from the left side, Carrigg jumped all over a 90.2 mph cutter from A’s reliever Justin Sterner, sending it 445 feet to the right-center field concourse of Las Vegas Ballpark.
The day before in Denver, the top prospect had blasted his first career home run against the Cubs, a 418-foot solo shot to right field.
Carrigg started all but 10 of the 93 games he appeared in this year, and had multiple hits 25 times. He had three hits in a game six times and collected a career-high four hits twice.
Carrigg’s first four-hit explosion came in a 9-3 home win over the San Diego Padres on Sept. 15. His two home runs and five RBI in that game were also the most in his young career. He collected another four hits Sept. 24 in a 12-8 shootout loss at home to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Defensively, Carrigg appeared primarily in the outfield, manning center field for 634.2 innings over 83 games. He racked up an impressive five outfield assists from center and helped turn two double plays while committing just five errors 240 total chances — a .979 fielding percentage. In 103 innings over 22 games at shortstop, he had just one error and turned one double play in 46 chances.
Players are scheduled to report to spring camp on the Salt River Fields at Talking Stick (Scottsdale) on the week of Feb. 8, 2027. The Rockies will open the 2027 regular season on March 25 against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park.
