Colorado Rockies

The club has been showing more staying power than most Rockies teams have. Better yet, several young players are contributing, and rookie outfielder Da

vid Dahl is the latest to help out after rising from the farm system.

Dahl hit .370 with two home runs in his first seven games and showed a powerful arm from left field. The left-handed hitter, drafted 12th overall out of an Alabama high school in 2012, was ranked as the No. 39 prospect by

Baseball America entering this season.

“I like him, I like him a lot,” Rockies All-Star third-baseman

Nolan Arenado told The Denver Post. “He has a lot of character to him, and he wants to be good and he works hard. He loves the game, and he likes to talk about hitting — a lot. So he’s my type of guy. The bottom line is, he makes us a better team right now.”

The Rockies, who took a 52-53 record into August, are getting above-average seasons from sev- eral young, homegrown players.

Beyond Arenado, 25, the group includes rookie shortstop Trevor

Story, 23, who roomed with Dahl in spring training and is among the major league leaders in home runs (27 through Sunday), and pitcher Jon Gray, 24, who averages 9.4 strikeouts per nine innings and has a good adjusted ERA.

The Rockies got a franchiserecord 19 quality starts in July, which left their bullpen fairly fresh for the home stretch. Gray led the way — he pitched at least six innings and allowed three runs or fewer in all five of his outings.