Colorado’s wild-card roster included 14 former Isotopes

Dodgers Gonzalez, Jansen also were in Albuquerque for a time

The Colorado Rockies, in developing a playoff team, have made much use of their Triple-A affiliated Albuquerque Isotopes.

The Rockies’ 25-man roster for Wednesday night’s National League wild card game at Arizona included 14 players who have spent some time as an Isotope, per research the club (public relations director Kevin Collins) did this week.

And there were 27 players who spent time with the Isotopes and Rockies this year alone.

The Rockies and Isotopes just completed their third year of partnership. The Isotopes’ previous major league partner, Los Angeles, was here in its most recent stint from 2009-14. But only six current Dodgers ever played in Albuquerque, even though the Isotopes and Dodgers have been split up for only three seasons. Of those six, veteran first baseman Adrian Gonzalez was here in the Isotopes’ inaugural 2003 season with the then-Florida Marlins. Charlie Culberson was here in 2015, the first year Albuquerque was a Rockies affiliate.

And of course Kenley Jansen, one of the top relievers in baseball, was here for nine games in 2009 — as a catcher. He never pitched with the Isotopes.

Accompanying this short story is a table of players and staff on current playoff teams who spent time in Albuquerque. The list of Rockies and the one Diamondback (Daniel Descalso, as a Rockies farmhand in 2016) are from the active roster for last night — which was composed just to win one game. The winner’s roster is likely to have significant changes heading into the National League Division Series against Los Angeles.