Baseball can be cruel. One minute you can be a team’s top prospect, destined to herald in a new age for a team and the next you’re sidelined for two years because your body won’t let you play the game.

There have been times when Ryan Rolison felt “forgotten about.” Drafted in the first round by the Colorado Rockies in 2018 out of Ole Miss, Rolison featured a big league-ready curveball and a profile that screamed big league starter. The hope was that Rolison would be next in line to continue the trend of homegrown pitching that propelled the Rockies to the postseason in 2017 and 2018. By the end of 2021, Rolison was knocking on the door of the big leagues in Triple-A but fate had other plans.

An appendectomy, a broken hand, and multiple shoulder surgeries robbed Rolison of two seasons but in 2024 he’s managed to finally come back healthy and compete with the hopes of cracking the big league roster. Pitching down in Albuquerque, Rolison has worked mainly out of the bullpen to promising results as he undertakes a workload of growth and strengthening to get his arm back to where it needs to be.

In this new Rooftop Mingle, we talk to the former first-round pick. He discusses his journey back from multiple injuries over the past two years while talking about the anticipation of getting called up one day. Additionally we talk about the support system and work ethic to maintain optimism through multiple injuries and his friendship with other players in the Rockies organization.

Rocky Mountain Rooftop is the Colorado Rockies affiliate of Fans First Sports Network dedicated to covering all things Rockies. Our flagship podcast Affected by Altitude, hosted by Evan Lang and Skyler Timmins, covers all the happenings of the big league club. Other shows under the RMR banner include Every Rockie Ever and Rooftop Mingle featuring player interviews.

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