TJ Rumfield makes early case for a Gold Glove and Rookie of the Year with the Rockies
Once an afterthought in the Yankees' system, TJ Rumfield is taking his opportunities with the Rockies and running with them. Now he looks like an early candidate for some end-of-season awards.
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DENVER — An afterthought with the New York Yankees in 2025, first baseman TJ Rumfield is a candidate for National League Rookie of the Year Award and the Rawlings Gold Glove Award with the Colorado Rockies in 2026.
What a difference a year and an opportunity can make.
Acquired via trade from the Yankees on Jan. 28 for RHP Angel Chivilli, Rumfield was not given a chance by the big league club despite performing well in Triple-A for the second year in row. The presence of Anthony Rizzo, Paul Goldschmidt and Ben Rice in the Bronx made Rumfield unappreciated for two years and expendable this past winter.
The Richmond, VA born and Texas-raised Rumfield battled to win a spot in the Opening Day lineup at first base thanks to a strong spring. Hitting .286 with five home runs and 13 RBI during 23 Cactus League contests, the rookie received the Abby Greer Award winner as the team’s spring training MVP.
From there, it’s been rather smooth sailing for the Virginia Tech product. The left-handed hitting slugger has really caught fire since April 18, slashing .283/.366/.492 with 13 doubles, eight homers and 29 RBI in 52 games. Coupled with 20 walks and 26 strikeouts in that span, Rumfield has been everything the Rockies could have hoped for when first acquiring him.
The Case For Winning A Gold Glove
Though legendary managers like Connie Mack, Joe McCarthy and Casey Stengel have never been credited with the quote, “A good first baseman makes every infielder that much better,” the point still stands.
“Unless you play the infield, you don’t understand how much confidence it gives (an infielder) to be able to make acrobatic plays and still try to finish them,” said Rockies’ skipper Warren Schaeffer.
The one squad in franchise history that broke the mold — a club that won 21 of 22 games on their way to the 2007 World Series — had a .989 fielding percentage as a team. Since then, Colorado has prided their organization with having top caliber defense.
Rumfield, who has made just one error in 485 total chances (.998) over 74 games, will need to be even better to top Todd Helton’s club record of .999 (2 errors in 1,545 total chances) set during a magical season that led to the Fall Classic.
Though Helton won the Rawlings Gold Glove Award in 2001-02 and 2004, he lost to Derrek Lee of the Chicago Cubs who made seven errors in 1,259 chances (.994) in 2007.
Rumfield, 26, hopes he’s not as unfortunate. He’s also more focused on another metric of success.
“That’s honestly really all I care about – my teammates’ confidence in me,” Rumfield said on Saturday before reaching base safely three times and singling home the go-ahead RBI during a 2-1 win over Paul Skenes and the Pittsburgh Pirates “To hear that they have trust in me like that, it’s something that I’ve worked really hard to get and I’m going to work really hard to keep that trust.”
The left side of the infield, for one, is grateful. Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar thinks Rumfield has saved him from a few errors. Third baseman Kyle Karros seconds that sentiment.
“I think any Gold Glove defender probably has a pretty good first baseman over there because there’s so many opportunities for that guy to pick you up,” Karros said. “Even on great plays that you make, you dive, you get up and you have to throw off-balance or something. Having a guy that can pick it up over there is huge.”
SABR Defensive Index (SDI) has Rumfield as the second best defender at first base in the NL through June 6. He’s also tied for first according to Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) with 6. Tops on both leaderboards is Atlanta’s Matt Olson, a three-time winner of the Gold Glove.
“He’s been exceptional. He’s been excellent for a big man. He’s opened my eyes. You don’t always have to look the part in terms of a big man that doesn’t move too well to get the job done,” said Schaeffer. “Very quick. Not fast, but quick.”
Though Rumfield, who won the MiLB Gold Glove in 2023 while in Double-A, is in the 4th percentile in baseball with sprint speed of 24.7 feet per second, his lack of speed — and not lack of quickness — is not a factor when playing first base.
“He’s been an elite defender so far,” said Karros. “I don’t know what the numbers say or I’m not really watching his first steps or anything, but he’s getting the job done over there. So, clearly, he’s quick enough.”
It’s been 22 years since Colorado last won a Gold Glove at the position. Rumfield is hoping the drought ends this year.
And the Rockies are hoping another, slightly longer drought ends too.
The Case For Winning The NL Rookie Of The Year Award
The big league debut of Jason Jennings is one of the best of all-time: a complete game shutout on the road in Queens with a home run to boot. No player did that before and no player has done it since in their first Major League game.
A year later, Jennings won 16 games for Colorado and received 27 first-place votes to take home the lone Rookie of the Year Award in team history.
Rumfield would love to become the second. In May, he was chosen as the NL Rookie of the Month, becoming the sixth Rockie to earn the award and first to win since Nolan Jones in Sept./Oct. 2023.
Entering Saturday, Rumfield ranked first in OPS (.816), batting average (.275) and slugging percentage (.463) among qualified rookies in the Senior Circuit. His 70 hits, 26 extra-base hits, 118 total bases and 37 RBI are all second-most.
How about his patience at the plate? Second on the club with 27 base on balls, Rumfield has avoided strikeouts with an impressive 14% strikeout percentage. With a BB/K rate of 0.66, Rumfield trails only JJ Wetherholt of the St. Louis Cardinals, a player selected seventh overall. Not bad for a player once drafted 355th overall.
Wetherholt and a slew of other top 100 prospects in the NL may have a distinct advantage when it comes to prestigious awards such as the Rookie of the Year. Sal Stewart of the Cincinnati Reds, Carson Benge of the Mets, Konnor Griffin of the Pirates and Bryce Eldridge of the San Francisco Giants carry a cache not afforded Rumfield.
But his numbers, both offensive and defensive, do all the talking at this stage.
Compared statistically, against others in his freshman class this year, Rumfield has been elite. Then there’s what he’s done so far against every rookie in the 34 seasons of Denver baseball.
Start with his 11 home runs, including three in his last six games. Only Trevor Story (21, 2016), Wilin Rosario (14, 2012) and Helton (13, 1998) have ever hit more before the All-Star break as rookies. All three went on to receive Rookie of the Year votes during those years. Change the qualifiers to include 50 or more base hits in the first half and that leaves only Story and Helton alongside Rumfield.
If we include his walk total and total bases into the mix, he’s one of six rookies in franchise history to have at least 25 walks and 100 total bases before the All-Star Break and the first in a decade since Story did it in 2016. (There’s still 21 games to reach even more rarified air.)
For a player taken in the 12th round and traded twice before his path led to Majors, TJ Rumfield is wasting no time making his next ascent.
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