The Colorado Rockies take a Dodgers pitcher in the Rule Five Draft

The Colorado Rockies announced on Thursday that they have selected a right-handed pitcher, Jordan Sheffield, from the Dodgers in the 2020 Rule V draft.

This would have been the concluding event of the 2020 Winter Meetings but due to the pandemic, the Rule V draft and the Winter Meetings, in general, were held virtually in 2020. In the draft, the Colorado Rockies announced that they drafted right-handed relief pitcher Jordan Sheffield from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the draft. Sheffield is the younger-brother of Mariners pitcher Justus Sheffield.

Sheffield, 25, is from Tennessee and he pitched for Vanderbilt, which has been a college that had many successful MLB players in recent years, including David Price, Walker Buehler, Dansby Swanson, Mike Minor, Mike Yastrzemski, and Sonny Gray.

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However, Sheffield hasn’t panned out like the Dodgers had hoped. They drafted him as a starting pitcher but after having a nearly 5.00 ERA as a starter in A-ball and Advanced-A ball, the Dodgers made him a reliever.

The highest level he has reached is Double-A as with Double-A Tulsa in 2019, he pitched in 34 games and pitched to a 3.58 ERA. Since transitioning to the bullpen, Sheffield’s strikeout numbers have gone up to more than 12 per nine innings (between Advanced-A and Double-A in 2019) but his control is his main problem. Between the two leagues in 2019, he walked a staggering seven batters per nine innings, which is more than the average hits he allows per nine innings (5.2 H/9).

The Rockies are in desperate need of some bullpen and Sheffield’s fastball, which can top out at 98 MPH, with a slider and a circle change-up should play well in the Rockies bullpen if he can develop some more control.

or Sheffield to remain in the Rockies organization, the Rockies must keep him on their MLB roster for the entirety of the 2021 campaign to not risk forfeiture of Sheffield. The Rockies could also look to use him as a trade piece as well, as many teams have done that in previous years.