In yet another season, the Colorado Rockies find themselves in last place.

At the time of writing, the Rockies have the worst record in baseball, and they are at the bottom of another category: talent.

Recently, ESPN MLB Insider Kiley McDaniel released his rankings for all 30 Major League Baseball teams titled "Who has the most star talent?" McDaniel’s list identifies MLB teams that have the strongest cores with players who are under contract for the next two full seasons.

Surefire playoff teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers headlined the list, and even a team like the Los Angeles Angels — which the Rockies have traded places with for the worst record in baseball multiple times this season — has Mike Trout and others. 

The Rockies, however, do not have a marquee player, which contributes to McDaniel's reasoning for putting them behind every other club. In McDaniel’s rankings, he applies three subcategories to each roster to evaluate them: elite, plus and solid.

For Colorado, only two-time All-Star catcher Hunter Goodman made it into the plus category, and the rest of the Rockies’ contributors were placed in the solid category. Despite that, it is not all bad for this organization.

McDaniel acknowledged the talent that the Rockies do have beyond Goodman, such as Jake McCarthy, Cole Carrigg and others. In his view, Colorado's trajectory is upward. 

The Rockies are also on pace to lose 100 games for the fourth season in a row, but they pulled themselves off the ground slightly by winning more games than they did last season, which saw them finish with a disastrous 43-119 record. 

The only direction for Colorado to go was up, and it has accomplished slight growth because of the combination of talent on the roster. Goodman has been the centerpiece, posting a .247 batting average, a .313 on-base percentage, a .528 slugging percentage and an .841 OPS with 37 home runs in 125 games played.

In his first season with the Rockies, McCarthy has been good and a nice complementary piece to support Goodman from an offensive perspective. In 131 games, McCarthy has a .292 batting average, a .335 on-base percentage, a .482 slugging percentage and an .817 OPS with 15 home runs.

Carrigg has also shown promise in his rookie season since making his debut on June 9. Through 77 games, he has posted a .262 batting average, a .337 on-base percentage, a .446 slugging percentage and a well-above-average .783 OPS.

Ahead of the MLB Trade Deadline, there was a lot of chatter surrounding the Rockies possibly moving off Goodman, McCarthy, or both, but President of Baseball Operations Paul DePodesta elected to retain them, and it could be the right decision.

Every successful team needs an established core in place, and while Colorado’s roster might not be star-studded, it is moving in the right direction.