Scott Rolen could have been a member of the Colorado Rockies

Scott Rolen could have been a member of the Colorado Rockies

With the fourth pick of the second round, the Philadelphia Phillies selected Scott Rolen out of high school in Indiana. As with most teams, he would have been good on the Colorado Rockies.

But in the years that Rolen blossomed with the Phillies and, later, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Colorado Rockies had Vinny Castilla at third base.

When Rolen was drafted, Castilla was a shortstop but he was struggling at the position both offensively and defensively. That’s why in the 1993-1994 offseason, the Rockies signed Walt Weiss as a free agent.

Rolen made his debut in 1996 but won the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 1997 when Castilla was firmly cemented at third base, where he flourished, and Weiss was entering his final season as a Rockie but neither are future Hall of Famers when Rolen could be.

Castilla and Weiss combined for an rWAR of 35.9 and Rolen had an rWAR of nearly double that (70.1).

Later in the second round, the Rockies took a right-handed starting pitcher out of Bradley University in Bryan Rekar. Rekar got to the majors quickly as he made his debut in 1995 and he made 15 appearances (14 starts) but he didn’t have a great career overall (1.9 rWAR in parts of eight seasons).

But considering the picks following Rekar with the three remaining second round picks and most of the third round picks, it was not as bad of a pick as you may think.