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Colorado Rockies 1998 Draft: Drafting a Rockies legend

By Noah Yingling

DENVER, CO - AUGUST 25: Matt Holliday #7 of the Colorado Rockies points to the dugout to celebrate after hitting a seventh inning solo homerun against the St. Louis Cardinals at Coors Field on August 25, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. Players are wearing special jerseys with their nicknames on them during Players' Weekend. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images)
DENVER, CO - AUGUST 25: Matt Holliday #7 of the Colorado Rockies points to the dugout to celebrate after hitting a seventh inning solo homerun against the St. Louis Cardinals at Coors Field on August 25, 2018 in Denver, Colorado. Players are wearing special jerseys with their nicknames on them during Players' Weekend. (Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images) /
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Colorado Rockies, Matt Holliday, 1998 MLB Draft, Oakland A's
SAN FRANCISCO – SEPTEMBER 14: Matt Holliday #5 of the Colorado Rockies bats during the game against the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California on September 14, 2006. The Giants defeated the Rockies 5-0. (Photo by Don Smith/MLB Photos via Getty Images) /

The Colorado Rockies drafted Matt Holliday in the 1998 MLB Draft … as a third baseman.

In the 7th round of the draft, the Colorado Rockies drafted a third baseman by the name of Matt Holliday. Yes, the Rockies drafted him as a third baseman.

The Rockies gave him a signing bonus of $840,000 which was, by far, the highest for a 7th round pick at the time. For comparison, there were seven players in the first round that had a signing bonus lower than that.

Holliday was viewed as a very good prospect but teams thought that Holliday might change his mind and decide to play football.

The Rockies signed him and he played third base for his first three seasons in the minors but in 2002, the Rockies moved him to the outfield. He almost exclusively played left field in the minors after exclusively playing third base in his pro career. Throughout the rest of his minor league and major league career, Holliday never played a game at third base again. He played a handful of games at first base and a combined five games in center and right field in the majors but he almost exclusively made the change to left field.

He made his debut with the Rockies in 2004 and nearly won the 2007 NL MVP Award (came in 2nd to Jimmy Rollins), which is the year the Rockies got to the World Series.

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