Colorado Rockies draft history: Who could have been Rockies in 1992?

The Colorado Rockies didn’t do well with their 1992 first round draft pick.

In the first round of the 1992 Draft, the Colorado Rockies had not played an MLB game yet so they got the 27th pick in the draft (the first pick after the 26 MLB teams at the time).

Drafted ahead of the 27th pick was future Hall of Famer Derek Jeter (6th overall), three-time All-Star catcher Jason Kendall, and 14-year MLB outfielder Shannon Stewart.

With the 27th overall pick, the Rockies decided to draft a local product in right-handed pitcher John Burke. Burke, who graduated from Cherry Creek High School in the Denver suburb of Greenwood Village, was pitching at the University of Florida.

Burke signed for a $336,000 bonus and got to the majors in 1996 but was out of baseball by 1999. He only appeared in 28 games (nine starts) at the MLB level between ’96 and ’97 (all with the Rockies) and he had a 6.75 ERA and a -0.5 rWAR. Not the best pick by the Rockies.

Despite being drafted 27th in the round, there were some other good MLB players drafted after Burke that could have been Rockies. The player drafted with the next pick after Burke was catcher Charles Johnson by the Florida Marlins.

Johnson was a two-time All-Star and won four Gold Gloves in his 12 year MLB career with a career 22.6 rWAR. He also eventually played for the Rockies in 2003 and 2004. He had a signing bonus of $575,000, though, which was nearly a quarter-million more than Burke.

With the 35th overall pick in 1992, the Royals drafted an outfielder by the name of Johnny Damon. Damon played parts of 18 seasons in the majors, making the All-Star team twice, getting MVP votes four times, and he compiled an rWAR of 56.3.