Rockies land No. 3 overall pick in 2024 Draft
Thomas Harding
@harding_at_mlbNASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Rockies held serve with the odds on Tuesday, when they were awarded the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft Lottery during the Winter Meetings. It will be the third time in club history the Rockies have had the No. 3 pick.
In 2013, they selected pitcher Jon Gray at No. 3. In 2015, they nabbed current second baseman and 2022 Gold Glove Award winner Brendan Rodgers. The highest the club has ever drafted was second, in 2006, when they took right-handed pitcher Greg Reynolds.
The lottery’s lucky teams were the Guardians, who won the No. 1 pick despite the ninth-highest odds, and the Reds, who will pick second after entering the lottery with the 13th-highest odds.
After posting the Majors’ third-worst record at 59-103 record in 2023, the Rockies had an 18.3% chance at the top pick. Their odds were the same as the two teams that finished with worse records -- the Athletics, who ended up at No. 4, and the Royals, who will pick sixth. The White Sox, with the fourth-highest odds, will pick fifth.
The Rockies have three early shots to improve the club -- the third-overall pick in the first round, a Competitive Balance Round A pick after the first round and the third pick of the second round.
“I always like to say, for a scout, the Draft is a Super Bowl,” said Rockies senior director of scouting operations Marc Gustafson. “Some say it’s Christmas. What packages are they going to open?”
In too-early prognostication, it appears the Rockies could be in line for a college hitter with power at the first pick, and possibly when their turn swings back around.
The Rockies have selected 32 pitchers in the past two Drafts. However, the past four Drafts have produced position players who hold seven of the team’s top 12 prospect spots -- outfielders Jordan Beck (No. 4) and Zac Veen (No. 5), infielder/outfielder Sterlin Thompson (No. 6), outfielder Benny Montgomery (No. 8), catcher Drew Romo (No. 9), utility player/catcher Cole Carrigg (No. 11) and catcher/utility player Hunter Goodman (No. 12).
According to MLB.com Draft experts Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo, college position players occupy the top three spots on the list of Draft prospects -- West Virginia infielder JJ Wetherholt, Wake Forest first baseman Nick Kurtz and Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana. Also, No. 5 prospect Jac Caglianone is a first baseman/pitcher from the University of Florida, and No. 6 prospect Charlie Condon is a first baseman/outfielder from the University of Georgia.
Todd Helton, Rockies special assistant to the general manager, has been part of meetings evaluating trade and free-agent candidates, but he also is studying video of Draft-eligible hitters.
“The most productive thing I’m doing that I get excited about is watching the college/amateur players we’re thinking about taking,” said Helton, who singled out Kurtz. “There are some good hitters -- impact-type bats that are exciting to see.”
Going into the 2023 amateur season, University of Tennessee pitcher Chase Dollander was a candidate for a top-three pick. But he struggled after making some changes. The Rockies took him at No. 8, and he is the No. 3 prospect in the system. The Rockies were happy with a top-three talent falling to them. But the story illustrates that if players are capable of sliding in the early first round, others can rise.
Prospect, wife OK after shooting
Third baseman Warming Bernabel sustained a pair of gunshot wounds to his back in a robbery attempt outside a restaurant in the Dominican Republic on Sunday but escaped serious injury, Rockies general manager Bill Schmidt said. Bernabel’s wife also received a gunshot wound in the arm but her injuries were not extensive, Schmidt said.
Bernabel, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Rockies’ No. 10 prospect, batted .225 with six home runs and 28 RBIs in 83 games at Double-A Hartford. At 21, he was one of the youngest players in the Eastern League.