Eight games into the season, the 3-5 Rockies look like the team we thought they’d be. In other words, it’s a club likely to finish last in the National League West and post a losing record for the 22nd time in 31 years of its existence.

But there might be some hope on the horizon. Various baseball pundits rate the Rockies’ farm system as one of the most improved. MLB Pipeline, for example, ranks the Rockies 14th, a significant jump from their 24th spot in 2022 and 27th ranking in 2021.

The Rockies firmly believe that their “children” are their future, but when will players such as outfielders Zac Veen, Brenton Doyle, and Benny Montgomery, catcher Drew Romo, and, farther down the line, pitchers Gabriel Hughes and Jaden Hill, be ready for prime-time?

Here’s a peek at general manager Bill Schmidt’s philosophy:

Q: What are the main things that tell you that a player is ready?

Schmidt: “You look for consistency. For hitters, on-base percentage is important. For pitchers, we look at the ball-to-strike ratio and the walks, and the ability to get through a lineup multiple times. There are a lot of benchmarks.”

Q. When a player is flashing talent, what else goes into the evaluation?

Schmidt: “You look at maturity. That’s the hard part because you are dealing with human beings. That’s real hard. You think they might be ready but you’re never sure. You have to look at how they deal with failure. How they respond.

“You can go back to (shortstop) Trevor (Story). Trevor had a lot of failures at (high-A) Modesto. He went through a lot, including swing changes. He had to learn how to deal with failures.

“You don’t want the majors to be the first level that they deal with failure. You can look at Zac Veen as an example. He struggled at Double-A Hartford last year, but then he went to the Arizona Fall League and performed well, and then he had a good spring training. Now we’ll see if he can figure out (Double-A) this year. Double-A is where players usually make the biggest adjustment.”

Q: What do you say to the fans and media clamoring for a hot prospect to be called up?

Schmidt: “There are still a lot of things they are working on. The raw numbers might tell you one thing, but there might be something else they are dealing with. Stuff you guys don’t know about. They have to check all the boxes.”

Q: Does the environment of the big-league club — the win-loss record and the team chemistry — enter into the equation on when to promote a player?

Schmidt:  “You have to take everything into consideration as to what’s going on.”

Q: What are the pitfalls of bringing a player up too early?

Schmidt: “If they’re not ready to handle it, it can hurt a player. For some, it might be the speed of the game. They play a lot faster up here and these are grown men up here.”

Q: You were the longtime head of scouting for the Rockies. Now that you’re the GM, does your experience help you evaluate when to call up a player?

Schmidt: “I think what helps me is that I know the background of a lot of these players and where they have been, what they have been through, and where they are at.”

Q: Do you ever get tempted to promote a player quickly because of his raw talent?

Schmidt: “There is no doubt, but you want to do what’s right for the player. But you have to be patient. You have to. You have to let them check off the boxes.”

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