The Rockies’ draft history is filled with plenty of first-round draft picks that could be labeled as disappointments: Greg Reynolds, Casey Weathers, Christian Friedrich … there are plenty of players that once represented promise for the organization whose numbers failed to match the excitement. Recently, Jake Shapiro outlined some of the grimmest drafts in club history, and the trend it highlights is obvious: failed pitching.
That is why there remains a largely negative rhetoric around the Rockies’ draft and development strategy. But that narrative is changing.
With the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft, the Rockies selected Riley Pint, a right-handed pitcher out of Kansas who best represents the changing pedigree of Rockies pitcher draft selections. A change that has already begun showing success at the major-league level.
Prior to last year, when the Rockies selected Mike Nikorak in the first round (their second overall pick), there were several noticeable trends in their pitcher drafting strategy, and not necessarily good ones. Here is a list of all the pitchers drafted in the first round by the Rockies since 2000:
Outside of Roe, Matzek and Tago, all of the Rockies’ pitching selections at the top of the draft have been university pitchers. They have also featured similar draft profiles: selections with high floors and often an emphasis on pitch control.
Some of the most prominent names best exemplify this type: Reynolds, Anderson, Matzek, Friedrich. All guys who may not necessarily throw hard, but whose arsenal would emphasize a focus on secondary pitches and command.
In solving the debated equation of how pitchers can succeed at altitude, the Rockies have regularly leaned towards “safer” players who have exhibited lower velocity but higher promise for control, and have put in college playing time — guys who would hopefully fall into similar success as players like Aaron Cook, Jeff Francis or even Jorge De La Rosa.
But looking at that list, for most Rockies fans, elicits a lot of disappointment. There are plenty of notorious failures on this list inReynolds, Friedrich, Matzek, and Weathers.
That is why the selections of Pint and UGA RHP Robert Tyler are so important in representing an increasingly apparent shift in drafting philosophy. Both are hard-throwing right-handers with plus fastballs landing at the top of the 80-grade scale. Both have also been critiqued for average to slightly below-average command, a risk the Rockies are seemingly more willing to take in exchange for the unteachable skill of velocity.
It’s an adjustment that makes sense. The Rockies have, notably, one of the best farm systems in the majors, and there is time for these still-raw talents (particularly 19-year-old Pint) to develop the mechanics that will lead them to control and command of their pitches. But you can’t teach velocity, and that is an attribute the Rockies have seen work in their pitchers at the major-league level, from the memorable dominance of Ubaldo Jimenez to the recent success of Jon Gray.
Pint and Tyler join last year’s first-round pick Mike Nikorak, another hard-throwing right-hander drafted out of high school. Nikorak struggled last year in Rookie-ball Grand Junction but signed as a top-100 prospect in MLB according to Baseball America, due largely to his high velocity (his fastball can hit up to 97 mph) and polish with a strong command of his curveball. In 2015, the first five draft picks the Rockies made were all high-school players.
These are the names of a new era of Rockies’ drafting, in which the team is unafraid to draft younger, with emphasis on velocity and less on the safer, more polished choices. Team history has repeatedly shown pitching to be the glaring Achilles heel of the Colorado Rockies, noted by experts and layman fans alike. But under Jeff Bridich, there is finally a clear plan in place to bring an end to the Coors Field pitching conundrum.
