Colorado Rockies 1999 Draft: The Rockies passed on Albert Pujols more than a dozen times

In 1999, the Colorado Rockies were in the middle of what was, arguably, their oddest year in franchise history and, perhaps, in baseball history.

Baseball was in the middle of the “steroid era.” At the time, due to a spike in attendance and TV ratings (and therefore, money), MLB turned a blind eye to it. With PEDs and a lack of good pitching because of two rounds of expansion in a five-year span, offense was at an all-time high and pitching was at an all-time low.

The average MLB team was hitting .271 with an OPS of .778 with an average of 5.08 runs per game. It was even more apparent in the American League with the DH where AL teams hit .275 with a .786 OPS and an average of 5.18 runs per game.

For the first time (and only time) since 1936, an MLB team scored more than 1000 runs in a season as Cleveland scored 1009 runs (or 6.23 per game).

But with park-adjusted stats, the Colorado Rockies had the worst offense in the NL.

1999 was odd for the Colorado Rockies in that both their pitching and offense struggled. The team was led by first-year manager Jim Leyland, who ended up resigning after the season due to the stressful season and, largely, due to the stresses of pitching at altitude.

That’s part of the reason why the Rockies drafted 26 pitchers among their 49 draft picks in 1999.

But 22 of the 26 never made it to the majors and only one made more than 16 appearances for the Rockies.

So let’s look at the Colorado Rockies 1999 Draft class and who could have been in that draft class.