Rockies demote first baseman Michael Toglia

NEW YORK (AP) — Struggling Colorado Rockies first baseman Michael Toglia was optioned to Triple-A Albuquerque prior to Saturday’s game against the New York Mets.

Toglia appeared to establish himself as the Rockies’ first baseman last year, when he hit .233 with 21 homers following his June recall from Triple-A. He produced his first multi-homer game July 14, when he went deep three times against the Mets at Citi Field.

But Toglia began this season in a 2-for-23 slump and didn’t homer until his 65th plate appearance. He hit .247 with six homers in 26 games from April 16 through May 14 before hitting .125 with 22 strikeouts in his next 40 at-bats.

He leads the majors with 81 strikeouts in just 186 at-bats.

Interim Rockies manager Warren Schaeffer said he wants Toglia to “go down and control the strike zone better.”

“He just needs to get better overall offensively,” he said.

The 24-year-old was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts while serving as the Rockies’ No. 8 hitter in Friday’s 4-2 loss which dropped Colorado to 9-48 — the worst record through 57 games in the modern era.

“It wasn’t working out right now for him and he knows that,” Schaeffer said. “In the future, we expect big things from Mike.”

To replace Toglia on the roster, the Rockies selected the contract of infielder Keston Hiura from Albuquerque. Schaeffer said Hiura, who reached double figures in homers for the Milwaukee Brewers three times from 2019 through 2022, would likely see the bulk of the playing time at first, though Kyle Farmer drew the start at the position Saturday.

The Rockies also designated infielder Aaron Schunk for assignment.

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