Rox Pile
Fansided

The tragic story that doomed the Colorado Rockies 1994 Draft class

By Noah Yingling

7 Mar 1999: Infielder Nomar Garciaparra #5 of the Boston Red Sox smiles as he stands on the field during the Spring Training game against the Texas Rangers at the City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Florida. The Red Sox defeated the Rangers 7-6. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bahr /Allsport
7 Mar 1999: Infielder Nomar Garciaparra #5 of the Boston Red Sox smiles as he stands on the field during the Spring Training game against the Texas Rangers at the City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, Florida. The Red Sox defeated the Rangers 7-6. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bahr /Allsport /
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Colorado Rockies, Ellis Burks
13 Jun 1998: Ellis Burks #26 of the Colorado Rockies looks on during a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. The Rockies defeated the Dodgers 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Laforet /Allsport /

The Colorado Rockies did not have another pick until the fifth round of the 1994 draft. Why? They signed a bunch of free agents in the 1993-94 offseason.

They sacrificed the 33th overall pick (1st round) to the Chicago White Sox for signing Ellis Burks. The White Sox drafted pitcher Chris Clemons with that pick. Clemons only made it to the majors for five appearances in 1997 with the White Sox. The Rockies also had to sacrifice their second round pick to the White Sox as well. They drafted John Ambrose with that and he never reached the majors.

The only two players with an rWAR above 1.0 in the second round were:

  • Troy Glaus, Angels (38.1 rWAR)
  • Mike Darr, Padres (2.5 rWAR)

Like Million, Darr died tragically at a young age as he died at the age of 25 in February 2002 in a car accident in Arizona just before Spring Training.

The Rockies had to sacrifice their third round pick to the Marlins for signing Walt Weiss and their fourth round pick to the Mets for signing Howard Johnson.

Some of the best picks that went in the third or fourth round included:

  • A.J. Pierzynski, Minnesota
  • Aaron Boone, Cincinnati
  • Danny Graves, Cleveland

Burks and Weiss ended up being good signings for the Rockies but Johnson was not a great signing as, in 93 games in his lone season in Colorado, he had a -0.7 rWAR.

But in the fifth round, the Rockies had a pick and they could have made a much better pick.

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