NASHVILLE — The Rockies held serve in Tuesday’s Major League Baseball Draft Lottery, nabbing the third overall pick for the 2024 draft.
Colorado finished the season 59-103, the third-worst record in the majors. Kansas City (56-106) and Oakland (50-112) were the only two teams with worse records. The Rockies entered the lottery tied with the A’s and the Royals with the highest percentage chance of landing the top pick, at 18.3%.
“We’re pumped at three,” said Marc Gustafson, Colorado’s senior director of scouting. “We are going to have some good opportunities there. At the end of the day, scouts will have boots on the ground like they always do. We’ll do our work, we’ll do our research. We are excited and we’re ready to roll now.”
Cleveland was the surprise winner of the lottery. The Guardians (76-86) won the No. 1 overall pick, even though they had the ninth-highest chance of winning it, at 2.0%. Cincinnati (82-80) snagged the second pick even though it had only a 0.9% chance of winning. Based solely on lottery odds, the Reds would have picked 13th and the Guardians ninth.
The Athletics will select fourth, the White Sox fifth and the Royals sixth when the draft is held next summer during the All-Star Game festivities.
Gustafson acknowledged that many of the top prospects for the 2024 are power hitters.
“There is size, there is power, there is bat speed,” he said. “It’s hitter-heavy, especially at the college ranks.”
Seeking to add depth to its system, the Rockies added 34 pitchers over the last two drafts, but Gustafson said that doesn’t mean that the Rockies won’t look at a pitcher with the No. 3 overall pick. And even though the Rockies have a lot of young talent in the outfield, Gustafson didn’t rule out that position, either.
“It sounds like a cliché but it holds true,” he said. “We are looking for the best available player. There is some size and power up top, but there is also some talent in the middle of the field and there are some pitchers who could rise to the occasion.”
According to MLB Pipeline, the top 10 prospects for the draft are: 1. JJ Wetherholt, infielder, West Virginia; 2. Nick Kurtz, first base, Wake Forest; 3. Travis Bazzana, second base, Oregon State; 4. Chase Burns, right-handed pitcher, Wake Forest; 5. Jac Caglianone, first base/left-handed pitcher, Florida; 6. Charlie Condon, first base/outfield, Georgia; 7. Brody Brecht, right-handed pitcher, Iowa; 8. Vance Honeycutt, outfielder, North Carolina; 9. PJ Morlando, outfielder, Summerville (N.C.) High School; and 10. Tommy White, third baseman, LSU.
The Rockies have drafted at No. 3 twice, selecting right-handed pitcher Jon Gray out of Oklahoma in 2013 and picking Brendan Rodgers, their current second baseman, out of Lake Mary High School (Fla.) in 2015.
The highest draft pick the Rockies ever had was in 2006, when they held the second overall selection and took right-handed pitcher Greg Reynolds out of Stanford.
Bernabel OK after shooting. Rockies third base prospect Warming Bernabel was shot in the back during a robbery attempt in his native Dominican Republic, general manager Bill Schmidt said Tuesday. Schmidt said that Bernabel, 21, was not seriously hurt and is recovering well. Bernabel’s wife was shot in the arm during the incident but she escaped a serious injury, Schmidt said.
Bernabel, Colorado’s No. 10 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, played 83 games for Double-A Hartford last season, slashing .225/.270/.338 with six home runs, 14 doubles in 83 games. He missed time with a back injury.
Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.
