Let’s talk about T. J. Rumfield

On January 28, 2026, the Colorado Rockies made it official: They had traded RHP Angel Chivilli to the New York Yankees for 1B T.J. Rumfield.

At the time, it appeared to be the Rockies trading from a position of strength (relief pitching) to gain a potential lefty power bat. The Rockies are still unclear about who will play first base following the decision to DFA Michael Toglia. By bringing in Rumfield, the Rockies gave themselves more options.

After Wednesday’s and Thursday’s showings, in which Rumfield hit not one but two home runs (which you may see in the video below) followed by yet another on Thursday, it’s worth exploring who he is and what he might bring to the Rockies.

Start at the beginning: Who is this guy?

A native of Temple, Texas, Rumfield spent the 2020 season with the Texas Tech Red Raiders before transferring to Virginia Tech, where he played for a year while majoring in political science.

In 2021, he was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 12th round, and spent that season with the Low-A Clearwater Threshers. In November of that year, he was traded to the New York Yankees.

After that, Rumfield began making his way through the Yankees system. He found himself in 2022 an Arizona Fall League “Rising Star,” and in 2023, he won a Gold Glove at first base while with the Somerset Patriots. Please enjoy some MiLB defensive highlights:

Not bad — and certainly better than the -11 Outs Above Average Toglia logged for the Rockies at first.

Over the course of his career, the 25 year old has slashed .271/.365/.431. This includes 88 doubles, 52 home runs, 260 RBI and 21 stolen bases over parts of five Minor League seasons from 2021-25.

And then, the poor guy found himself first blocked by Yankees future first baseman Ben Rice and then traded to the Colorado Rockies, who were then coming off one of the worst seasons in MLB history.

Why did the Rockies make this move?

It’s pretty clear that Michael Toglia has been an unsuccessful draft-and-develop story on the part of the Rockies. One of DePodesta’s first moves was to send Toglia on to the next stage in his baseball career. (Here’s wishing him good luck with the Cincinnati Reds.)

In the meantime, the thought was the Rockies might platoon Blane Crim (righty) and Troy Johnston (lefty) in the position with Edouard Julien taking an occasional turn at first. And all of this was happening while Charlie Condon prepared to become the Rockies permanent first baseman.

However, a few things have changed to call into question that conventional thinking.

First, we know the DePodesta and general manager Josh Byrnes are interested in “optionality,” the ability of a player to play multiple positions, à la Mookie Betts. That has led to, among other things, Charlie Condon seeing some outfield time, and we’ve been told to expect to him to play third base before spring training is over.

In other words, the time of “Charlie Condon: Todd Helton Heir Apparent“ is over. The Rockies aren’t planning to build a roster of specialists; rather, they want players who are comfortable playing any number of positions.

Will we see Condon at first base? Sure.

But we are probably going to see other players there, too.

Second, Rumfield is a lefty, and DePodesta was clear throughout the offseason that the Rockies were looking to even out their lineup in terms of handedness. In Rumfield, they have a power-hitting lefty in the lineup. (Plus, he could eventually platoon with righty Charlie Condon.)

Third, he has pop, as witnessed this week when he hit — again — not one, but two home runs on Wednesday and a third on Thursday. Do spring training numbers mean nothing? Absolutely, they are worthless. Still, currently T.J. Rumfield leads MLB in home runs with three.

Sure, the Rockies are looking for guys who can get on base, but they also want players who can rake, and Rumfield might be that guy. Plus, he’s an inexpensive contract for a rebuilding team.

Can you tell us something interesting?

I can.

Rumfield’s father, Toby, has some baseball experience himself and spent 14 years in professional baseball, playing for the Atlanta Braves, Chicago White Sox, Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals’ minor league systems.

The elder Rumfield also served as his son’s coach for much of his life.

So, what’s next?

That’s what spring training is for!

It will be difficult to test Rumfield against Blaine Crim, who has an oblique injury and won’t return to play for some time. In addition, the Rockies are interested in seeing what Johnston can do in the outfield as well as first base.

And Charlie Condon is having a pretty good spring training himself.

It’s too early for meaningful predictions, but I tend to think Crim will not break camp with the team — he just wasn’t that good in 2025 — and Rumfield will claim the job with Julien providing an occasional platoon.

We’ve got another month to find out.

Closing thoughts

And that’s it for this week.

It’s hard not to get excited about what we’ve seen from the rebuilding Rockies so far, but the fact is that they are rebuilding, and things will be very different when the season starts. I don’t think this will be a good team, but I do think it will be less bad.

And I am confident that this version of the Colorado Rockies will be interesting.

And “bad but interesting” beats “bad but boring” any day of the week.

Thanks for reading —

Renee

Rockies Pitch is a newsletter that focuses on Colorado Rockies baseball.

Find me on Bluesky at @ReneeDechert.com or send an email to Renee@RockiesPitch.com