What Rox will take into account for Draft
This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding’s Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
DENVER -- Jonathan Mayo notes in his latest 2023 mock draft notes that things at the top are changing regularly. The Rockies, at No. 9, are drafting early enough to feel some of those winds of change.
Mayo predicts the team will select University of Tennessee right-handed starting pitcher Chase Dollander, the No. 9 Draft prospect. An earlier mock draft from Mayo had the Rockies taking Wake Forest right-hander Rhett Lowder -- who has risen from the No. 8 prospect to No. 6.
Mayo, of course, is on top of the ever-shifting Draft landscape. And in a previous newsletter, I covered how the Rockies look at the Draft strategically.
But another interesting aspect of this Draft will be the signability -- seemingly a term thrown to the dustbin of history when MLB began assigning value to each pick -- of high school players.
Teams don’t have to sign players for the prescribed amount for each Draft slot, which means there is room to negotiate. And with the NCAA allowing players to be paid for the name, image and likeness (NIL), players can draw a baseball income while in college.
As a matter of policy, the Rockies, in recent decades, have made sure high school guys want to begin their pro careers before spending a pick on them. The NIL possibility could make a high school player more likely to opt for the college scholarship, depending how early he is picked.
“It’s something that you have to pay attention to, with the NIL money and with teams from the SEC [LSU beat conference foe Florida for this year’s Men’s College World Series title] on the big stage with the crowds, facilities, things of that nature,” senior director of scouting operations Marc Gustafson said. “And it’s OK.
“Kids go to college and they get better when they have the facilities, and when they have an opportunity to play in a huge environment. We have to look at every different avenue to make sure that this kid actually wants to go out and play pro ball. But that’s the beauty of our area scouts figuring out what’s inside the package of each player.”
Speaking of the financials, the Rockies’ total bonus pool allotment is $11,909,800. In the 11 Drafts under which the allotments have been in place, only the Rockies and the Twins have never gone above the prescribed total. The Rockies’ strategy has been to spend less than the value of the early picks and use some of the savings on lower picks.
Here are the values for the Rockies’ picks for Sunday’s first day of the Draft:
• First round (9th overall): $5,716,900
• Second round (46th): $1,868,400
• Competitive Balance Round B (65th): $1,184,100
The MLB Draft opens at 5 p.m. MT on Sunday with the first and second rounds. Day 2 on Tuesday is Rounds 3-10, and the Draft wraps up Wednesday with Rounds 11-20.