By BAKER ELLIS / Sports Editor 

DENVER – The time has come for Oak Mountain alum and baseball phenom David Dahl to take the final step in his minor league journey. Dahl, a 2012 graduate of Oak Mountain High School, was drafted 10^th overall out of high school by the Colorado Rockies, and has spent the last five summers working his way through the minor league system, and is scheduled to make his Major League debut on Monday, July 25.

Dahl, one of the top outfielders in the Rockies’ farm system, suffered a scary injury in May of 2015 when he lacerated his spleen while playing center field for the New Britain Rock Cats. A lacerated spleen can cause potentially life-threatening internal bleeding, and Dahl missed the remainder of the 2015 season recovering from that injury.

Since his return, Dahl has been on a lightning-quick ascent through the minor league system. He spent the first 76 games of the 2016 season with the AA Hartford Yard Goats, where he posted a .278 batting average to go along with 13 home runs and 45 RBIs.

He was called up to the Rockies’ AAA organization, the Albuquerque Isotopes, less than a month ago, and in 16 games has hit .484 with five home runs, 16 RBIs and six doubles in just 62 at-bats at the AAA level. On Saturday, July 23, Dahl went 4-for-5 against the Fresno Grizzlies. At just 22 years old, Dahl was the youngest player on the Isotopes’ roster by nearly two years.

First reported by the Denver Post, Dahl is scheduled to join the Rockies on July 25 for a series at the Baltimore Orioles.

Dahl also participated in the 2016 Futures Game as a part of the 2016 All-Star Weekend. The Futures Game, which has been held every year since 1999, matches a team of minor league baseball products from the United States and a team of minor league products from around the rest of the world. In the game Dahl went 0-for-2 and was credited with an outfield assist.