Rockies 2014 Draft Retrospective: The beginning of the hometown kid's journey

The MLB First-Year Player Draft begins on Monday, with the Colorado Rockies selecting at 22nd overall. At BSN Denver, we’re recapping the team’s previous seven draft classes. In this entry, we discuss the 2014 iteration.

After finishing with a 74-88 record in 2013, the Rockies found themselves with yet another top-10 selection in 2014. Picking No. 8 overall, it was the third consecutive year they owned an upper-third selection. On top of that, they won the competitive balance lottery and landed pick No. 35, as well.

First Round

Colorado made national headlines by bringing Denver native Kyle Freeland home with their top selection in the draft, the video of which became a viral sensation.

After a successful high school career at Thomas Jefferson High School, the lanky left-hander earned five All-American honors in his junior season for the Evansville Purple Aces, before his hometown elected to attempt to develop him into a different kind of purple ace.

Freeland broke through into the majors in 2017 after 45 minor league starts and has helped establish the Rockies’ new pitching identity, becoming a cornerstone of a young and lethal rotation. In 2018, he’s been arguably the best starter on the team, sitting at fourth in the National League with a 2.1 bWAR, carrying a 3.43 ERA in 11 starts.

Less successful, on the other hand, has been the Rockies’ other selection in the first round, Forrest Wall, whose five-tool arsenal compelled the team to turn the second baseman into a center fielder early in his development. However, he hit a brick wall offensively after reaching A-ball, stalling at the level for three seasons before missing most of 2017 with a dislocated shoulder.

BSN Denver caught up with him and Rockies Director of Player Development Zach Wilson during spring training, who both believed that the bat was starting to come around at the time of the injury, something he hoped to carry into 2018 after his recovery.

Since those discussions, Wall, still only 22-years-old, has put his money where his mouth is, finally solving A-ball pitching to the tune of a .305/.382/.453 slash line for High-A Lancaster. While minor league statistics should be taken with a fair dosage of salt, they are very similar to his early 2017 numbers (.299/.361/.471), an output which gave promise to the Rockies front office. His play was good enough to finally earn a Double-A promotion on May 28. He has played four games with the Yard Goats so far.

While juxtaposed with Freeland, the exploits of Wall seem marginal, but he has seemingly gotten back on track and if that is the case, the Rockies have one of their most exciting prospects returning to stature.

Top 10 Selections

With their third consecutive first overall pick in a row, the Houston Astros did not have as much success as they did when selecting Carlos Correa in 2012 in either 2013, as Mark Appel collapsed and fell out of baseball, but 2014 must have hurt more, especially in the short term. The Astros failed to sign Brady Aiken after dropping their signing bonus offer by $1.5 million when his physical showed elbow damage.

The rest of the top-10, however, has panned out fairly well. Four selections—Aiken, Kolek, Gordon and Jackson—have yet to break MLB, but the other six are recognizable names in the league.

Nola and Freeland may very well be on their own distinct ways to their first All-Star Game, a place Conforto has already been. Schwarber has inherited some superstardom with his big bat and the success of the Cubs, and Rodon looks to be a legitimate ace in the making for the White Sox, contingent on how he rebounds from an elbow injury that has kept him from pitching so far this season.

Hoffman, while not in the majors, is a key piece for the Rockies and is the first man up if/when the starting rotation experiences an injury. He’s had mixed success in the purple pinstripes but has elevated his game at Triple-A this season, striking out 11.4 hitters per nine innings. He’s been the odd man out so far in 2018 but is an essential piece for the team’s future.

22nd Pick

When the Rockies make their 1st round selection, 21 of the best players will have already been taken off the board. However, lots of top talent will remain. Though slightly arbitrary, let’s look at who was taken at this spot in 2011.

While other drafts we’ve broken down have had prolific players taken at No. 22 — Kolten Wong and Marcus Stroman–  Grant Holmes has yet to establish himself. So far, his claim to fame is being a cog in the trade that sent Josh Reddick and Rich Hill to Los Angeles from Oakland. Holmes is currently in Double-A, but a rotator cuff injury has prevented him from pitching this season and is sounding alarms in Billy Beane’s front office

Notable players taken after 22nd pick: # 32 Jose Berrios (MIN), #35 Kevin Plawecki (NYM), #36 Stephen Piscotty (STL), #38 Mitch Haniger (MIL), #39 Joey Gallo (TEX), #41 Lance McCullers, Jr. (HOU), #49 Jesse Winker (CIN)

The Rest of the Rockies Picks

Harrison Musgrave (Eighth round, No. 233): Musgrave is the only player other than Freeland to crack MLB with the Rockies from this draft class so far. Serving a mop-up role out of the bullpen, he’s only appeared in seven games despite being on the 25-man roster for more than a month. While he’s being used in a limited role, and his ceiling isn’t as high as some other up-and-coming Rockies pitchers, he’s still a quality depth piece that the team was able to pluck out of the middle rounds, making a jump to the show fairly quickly.

As we get deeper into this series, there will be fewer and fewer players that have fully developed into MLB talent yet. For the 2014 class, that is very much the case, with the player with potentially the highest ceiling in Wall still two steps away from Coors Field.

However, catcher Chris Rabago (13th round) and pitcher Sam Howard (third round) are both on the 40-man roster. Ryan Castellani (second round), Drew Weeks (seventh round), and Jerry Vasto (24th round) have all reached at least Double-A, with Vasto working at Triple-A currently. Kevin Padlo (fifth round) was dealt with Corey Dickerson for German Marquez and Jake McGee, two key major league pieces.  

What could have been?

Oftentimes, players are selected by teams in the late rounds of the MLB draft only to reject a signing offer in lieu of honing their skills at the college level before re-entering the draft to earn a larger signing bonus down the road.

While not signing as a high school player is very common, it is interesting to think about what could have been.

Some players selected out of high school from the 2014 draft and did not sign still have college eligibility, making identifying missed opportunities hard to do with the jury still out. However, one player the Rockies probably wish they could’ve locked down from this year was first baseman Pavin Smith, who they took in the 38th round. Smith elected to go to Virginia for college, and three years later became the No. 7 pick to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Rest of the 2011 MLB Draft

Notable players taken in 2nd round:  #42 A.J. Reed (HOU), #62 Alex Verdugo (LAD), #67 Sam Travis (BOS), #72 Brent Honeywell (TB)

Notable players taken in the 3rd round or later: #142 Rhys Hoskins (PHI), #238 Austin Slater (SF), #1151 Paul DeJong (STL)