Colorado Rockies: A look back on Dan O’Dowd’s 1st round draft picks

In 2000, it was O’Dowd’s first draft as the general manager of the Rockies. His first, first round draft pick was not one to write home about.

For the Rockies that year, they had the 7th overall pick. They decided to go with Matt Harrington with that pick.

Who? What? Exactly.

He was a right-handed pitcher coming out of high school, Palmdale High School in Palmdale, California to be exact. The righty would not even sign with the Rockies as he and his agent wanted $4.95 million to sign, which was more than 25 percent higher than what Josh Hamilton, who was the 1st overall pick in 1999, received.

The Rockies went as high as the $4.9 million but had stipulations. According to ESPN, the offer was no longer a bonus but instead a salary to be spread out over eight years, plus Harrington had to forgo three years of arbitration on their offer. They never came close to a deal and later, Harrington’s agent, Tommy Tanzer, accused the Rockies of backing out of a pre-draft agreement that would have given Harrington the $4.95 million signing bonus.

Harrington would later fire (and sue) Tanzer. He also would be drafted four more times by other teams and never signed. Again, according to ESPN, as of 2009, he was working at the tire department in Costco for $11.50 an hour.

Notable 1st round picks after Harrington in the draft

All stats are entering Wednesday, May 22nd. If the player has played in the majors in 2018 or on the disabled list, they are indicated by an asterisk (*)

Chase Utley*: second baseman, 15th overall pick, 16 year MLB career, 65.7 WAR, 1891 career games, 259 home runs, 1,025 RBI, .276/.359/.467 slash line, 5-time All-Star, 4-time Silver Slugger Award winner, ranked in MVP voting five times

Adam Wainwright*: right-handed pitcher, 29th overall pick, 13 year MLB career, 38.1 WAR, 147-87 career record, 3.30 ERA, 121 ERA+, two-time NL wins leader, two-time NL starts leader, one-time NL leader in complete games, two-time NL shutout leader, two-time NL innings leader, three-time All Star, ranked in NL Cy Young Award voting four times (all in the top three), ranked in MVP voting four times, two-time Gold Glove Award winner

There were other notable major leaguers in the draft after Harrington. They include Grady Sizemore, Cliff Lee, Yadier Molina*, Brandon Webb, Edwin Encarnacion*, Mike Napoli*, Jose Bautista*, Jason Bay, Ian Kinsler* (who didn’t sign), Adam LaRoche, Brian Wilson, and Russell Martin*.