On July 4, while the current Colorado Rockies were again struggling inside Coors Field, part of the potential future of the franchise was lighting up the East Coast with his own fireworks.

Charlie Condon, ranked as Colorado’s top prospect, notched a two-run double in the first inning and added another two-run double in the eighth to help the Double-A Hartford Yard Goats down the Binghamton Rumble Ponies and earn their 10th win in the last 12 road games.

That first double is one that perhaps carried some extra significance. After all, the hit plated Cole Carrigg and Jared Thomas, both ranked among Colorado’s top 10 prospects. It also came against Jonah Tong, ranked as the top New York Mets pitching prospect who was named Eastern League Pitcher of the Month in May and June.

There was plenty to like about in that one moment in Binghamton, and there has also been plenty for Rockies fans to love about what is coming together in Hartford as they develop potential next core of position players for the franchise.

That core includes Condon (first base), Carrigg (outfield), Thomas (outfield) and Kyle Karros (third base). Hartford currently has four of Colorado’s top 10 prospects on its roster, and that doesn’t include Karros, who comes in at number 18 in MLBPipeline.com’s most recent rankings.

It is doubtful that any of those four players will have an impact on the Rockies this season. However, each of them could be knocking on the door in 2026, providing what could be a punch to an offense that had been outscored by 139 runs at home heading into Saturday’s game against the Chicago White Sox.

While each of their individual offensive performances has been stellar so far at Double-A, with three of the four entering Saturday hitting .322 or higher (Carrigg’s .251 is the lone exception), the group is also learning to win together.

Condon, Carrigg and Karros were key pieces of High-A Spokane’s run to the Northwest League championship last year, with Karros leading the league in RBI (78) and Carrigg winning the home run title with 16, one ahead of the 15 smacked by Karros.

After winning in Spokane, the group is now together once again in Hartford, where the Yard Goats have a 7-4 second-half mark after Saturday’s loss.

While winning is important in the minors, Condon believes that it’s more important that those lessons translate when he and his colleagues arrive in Denver and begin playing for the Rockies.

“That’s the number one priority of everybody down here in this minor league system. That’s kind of the motto, especially for this Hartford team, is being a part of the solution,” Condon said on Friday. “You know, we’re here to win games in Hartford, but really what we’re here to do, more than anything, is help that big league group, because that’s what matters the most.

“That’s what everybody’s here for. Nobody’s here to win a High-A or Double-A championship. If that happens while you’re at the process, that’s great. But what we really want is success at that big league level. So we’re going to continue to grow our talent down here, and continue to push guys up that can help that group. That’s the number one priority, is helping them, and being a part of that turnaround that’s coming here.”

Rockies interim manager Warren Schaeffer, who managed Triple-A Albuquerque for two seasons, saw during his playing days in the Rockies organization how a core group can change a franchise. Suiting up for Double-A Tulsa in 2010, Schaeffer played against Northwest Arkansas, the Double-A team for the Kansas City Royals. That squad included Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Danny Duffy and other key players who would eventually lead the Royals to a 2015 World Series win.

“It happens organically,” Schaeffer said of relationships developing between core pieces in the minor league. “When you’re in the minor leagues managing and there are certain teams that you saw and played against, you were like, ‘Boy, this is going to be something.’”

It took that Royals team five years to reap the benefits of key players learning in Double-A. Could Colorado’s next core pay dividends by 2030? There are plenty of variables that will answer that question, but Colorado fans can keep an eye on Hartford and the development of four potential Rockies stars.