Colorado Rockies 2002 Draft: They miss out on Cole Hamels and Joey Votto

In the second round of the draft, the Colorado Rockies drafted right-handed pitcher Micah Owings.

Micah Owings did not sign with the Colorado Rockies but was later drafted by Arizona in 2005 and made it to the majors in 2007. As a rookie, he won the NL Silver Slugger Award for pitchers and faced the Rockies in Game 4 of the 2007 NLCS but Owings and the D-Backs were vanquished in four games. Owings had a 3.2 career rWAR but only a 0.7 rWAR for pitching so that tells you how good his bat was and how poor the pitching was. He eventually became an outfielder in the minors but never resurfaced in the majors.

Later in the round, the Red Sox drafted left-handed pitcher Jon Lester and the Braves drafted catcher Brian McCann.

Lester retired after the 2021 season and in his 16-year MLB career, he had a 44.2 rWAR with 200 career wins, a 117 ERA+, five All-Star selections, four top 10 finishes in Cy Young voting, and three World Series titles.

McCann could have filled what has almost always been an issue for the Rockies. The catcher spent parts of 15 seasons in the majors with an rWAR of 32.0 with seven All-Star selections and six Silver Slugger Awards.

Early in the third round, the Tigers drafted outfielder Curtis Granderson. Granderson played parts of 16 years in the majors with three All-Star selections, two top 10 finishes in MVP voting, and a Silver Slugger. He had a career rWAR of 47.2.

Of the Rockies 50 draft picks, the best future MLB player was right-handed pitcher Matt Garza. Garza was drafted by the Rockies in the 40th round and did not sign. Three years later, the Twins drafted him in the first round. He pitched in parts of 12 seasons in the majors with a career 12.5 rWAR.

But between the 4th and 8th rounds, the Rockies drafted Jeff Baker, Ryan Spilborghs, and Jeff Salazar. The former two were key players on the 2007 Rockies and Salazar, despite not playing on the Rockies much, was later the assistant hitting coach for the Rockies from 2017 through 2021.

Next up is the Rockies 2003 Draft, when they only had one of their first 18 picks even reach the majors.