Colorado Rockies 1998 Draft: Drafting a Rockies legend

Matt Holliday also paid off for the Colorado Rockies in trading him to Oakland

The Colorado Rockies traded Matt Holliday to Oakland after the 2008 season for Huston Street, Carlos González, and Greg Smith. Smith didn’t pan out but González was a great replacement for Holliday and Street became the Rockies closer. Both were key figures for the Rockies making the playoffs in 2009 and, for González, a key figure with the Rockies for the next decade.

Holliday ended up having a 15-year MLB career with seven All-Star appearances and he won four Silver Slugger Awards with a career 44.5 rWAR.

Even later in the draft, the Rockies drafted outfielder Juan Pierre in the 13th round. Pierre made it to the majors with the Rockies for three seasons before being traded to Florida with Mike Hampton for (among others) catcher Charles Johnson and outfielder Preston Wilson.

Pierre ended up playing 14 years in the majors and he had a career rWAR of 17.3, winning the World Series with Florida in 2003, and he had over 600 career stolen bases.

Next up in our draft series is the 1999 Draft, which was a draft that the Colorado Rockies could have drafted multiple players on the 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot but they, by and large, came up empty.