DENVER — On a sunny evening at Coors Field, the usually stoic Cole Carrigg was spotted in the outfield, stretching and sporting a smile that was shining just as bright as the sky. He was wearing the famed purple Colorado Rockies jersey with his last name and the number 16 stitched onto the back.
The scene took place on Tuesday, just minutes before the Turlock High School alumnus jogged from the dugout to center field to make his major league debut, a milestone that the 24-year-old had dreamed of for his entire life.
Carrigg started in center field and hit seventh as the Rockies welcomed the Chicago Cubs to town for the first of three games. Upon taking the field, he became the ninth Bulldog graduate to play in Major League Baseball, and the first to make his debut since reliever Nick Avila with the San Francisco Giants in 2024.
In the Rockies’s 7-3 victory, Carrigg was retired quickly in his first two plate appearances. Facing Cubs starter Colin Rea, the Turlocker flew out to shallow center on the first pitch he saw in the second inning. Rea then struck out Carrigg on three pitches in the third inning.
But Colorado’s No. 6 prospect and 65th overall section in the 2023 MLB Draft could only stay so quiet for so long.
Again against Rea in the fifth inning, Carrigg was hunting a fastball on the first pitch. The switch-hitter, batting lefty against the right-handed hurler, turned on a 90.6 mph offering located middle-in. The line drive landed just fair off the first base line and rolled to the right field corner. The speedster made a mad dash to third base, sliding in safely for his first MLB hit. He briefly did a dance from the popular video game Fortnite before giving third base coach Andy González a high-five.
“I wouldn’t want it any other way than to have a triple as my first one,” Carrigg said. “I love pushing it and going for three, and man, it was just really awesome. It was the best feeling in the world to get a base hit there.”
Carrigg worked a walk in his final time at the plate in the seventh inning.
He received not one but two Gatorade showers while speaking on the Rockies postgame broadcast.
“It couldn’t have been a better first hit for a player like that,” said Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer. “It was super exciting just watching him run around the bases like a young colt. Impressive. Fun. Happy for him, his folks and all the people who came to watch him. That was just vintage Cole Carrigg.”
Carrigg, who graduated from THS in 2020, learned of his call up to the majors on Sunday while with Triple-A Albuquerque. Following a game against the Salt Lake Bees in Utah, Isotopes manager Pedro López informed him of the promotion in front of the entire team.
"This is what I've worked for my whole entire life," said Carrigg when asked if there were any nerves going into his debut. "I think if you're not nervous for that moment, you're not human."
Carrigg had spent the entirety of the 2026 season with Albuquerque, slashing .338/.414/.529/.943 with 76 hits (six home runs, five triple and 15 double) with 27 RBI and 30 stolen bases. Defensively, the speedster has split time between the outfield and shortstop this year. On Monday, he was named the Isotopes’ Player of the Month for May after batting .351 with a 1.031 OPS and having stolen 11 bases.
The Rockies and Cubs will be back at it again Wednesday at 5:40 p.m. PST. The series concludes Thursday at 12:10 p.m. PST before the Rockies fly to Las Vegas, where Carrigg will be facing Athletics star and best friend from Turlock, Tyler Soderstrom, for a weekend series. The A’s are playing at Las Vegas Ballpark this week to promote the team’s move to Sin City in 2028.
