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

By Noah Yingling

LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 28: Todd Helton #17 of the Colorado Rockies bats against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on September 28, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 28: Todd Helton #17 of the Colorado Rockies bats against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on September 28, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images) /
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Colorado Rockies, Montreal Expos, Jose Vidro, 1992 Draft
FLUSHING, NY – APRIL 5: Second baseman Jose Vidro #3 of the Montreal Expos throws the ball during the game against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium on April 5, 2003 in Flushing, New York. The Mets defeated the Expos 3-1. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

The Colorado Rockies best draft pick in 1992 was a late pick who barely played with them.

In the 6th round, the Colorado Rockies drafted a catcher by the name of Will Scalzitti, who got up to Triple-A for one solitary plate appearance and never to the majors.

The best MLB player to come out of the round was future second baseman Jose Vidro (three-time All-Star, 17.4 rWAR), who was drafted by Montreal.

The Rockies best draft pick (by rWAR) was Craig Counsell, who was drafted in the 11th round of the draft. His 22.4 rWAR towers in comparison to the next highest draft pick (Roger Bailey at 5.2 rWAR). But Counsell only had two plate appearances with the Rockies at the MLB level.

Some of the other future MLB players drafted in the 7th round or later in the 1992 draft included:

  • Frank Catalanotto, 10th round, Detroit
  • Casey Blake, 11th round, Philadelphia (didn’t sign)
  • Darin Erstad, 13th round, Mets (didn’t sign)
  • Future Colorado Rockies reliever Mike DeJean, 24th round, Yankees
  • Raúl Ibañez, 36th round, Seattle
  • Jermaine Dye, 43rd round, Texas (didn’t sign)
  • Mike Lowell, 48th round, White Sox (didn’t sign)

Especially at the beginning of the draft, the Colorado Rockies could have looked very different if they drafted Charles Johnson, Johnny Damon, Todd Helton, or Jason Giambi.

Three of the four ended up playing for the Rockies but what if Johnson was with the Rockies for the better part of a decade, rather than two years? Instead of being second on our list of the five Rockies catchers, he easily could be the best.

If they drafted Damon, would the Rockies have traded him? By the time he made his debut in 1995, the Rockies had an outfield of Ellis Burks, Dante Bichette, and Larry Walker. Would they have even signed Larry Walker on the free agent market prior to 1995?

Next. What could relegation look like in MLB, for the Rockies?. dark

That’s something that we will never know but if drafting Johnny Damon means losing Larry Walker, that’s something that all Rockies fans would probably agree that while it would been nice to have Damon in the mid- to late-2000s, it wouldn’t have been worth sacrificing Walker and his eventual Hall of Fame career at the corner of 20th and Blake.

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