Colorado Rockies 2008 Draft: The drafting of Charlie Blackmon

The Colorado Rockies were coming off of what ended up being their two worst drafts in their history but they were also coming off of their best year in franchise history.

In 2007, the Colorado Rockies clinched their first playoff birth since 1995 and for the first (and thus far, only time) in franchise history, they went to both the NLCS and World Series. However, they were dispatched in a sweep by the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.

The 2008 Rockies, though, were a far cry from the 2007 Rockies. In fact, entering the day of the draft, the Rockies were 22-38, which was dead last in the National League and second-worst in the majors.

Per usual at the time, the Rockies pitching staff was not great as their ERA was 4.92 at the time so they decided to draft a lot of pitchers. In fact, 15 of their first 23 draft picks were pitchers, including their first-round pick.

The Colorado Rockies drafted left-handed pitcher Christian Friedrich with their first-round pick in 2008.

The Colorado Rockies drafted left-handed pitcher Christian Friedrich with the 25th overall pick of the 2008 MLB Draft.

Friedrich signed and did make it to the majors with the Rockies but he only pitched in parts of three seasons with the Rockies and parts of four in the majors. He never had an ERA with the Rockies below 5.25 (88 ERA+) and he had a career rWAR of -0.7.

An even bigger issue for the Colorado Rockies is that of all 15 of the pitchers that they drafted in the first 23 rounds of the draft, Friedrich was the only pitcher that made it to the majors with any team. There was only one other pitcher drafted by the Rockies in general (Tyler Pill) that ever made the majors but Pill didn’t sign with the Rockies.

The Colorado Rockies drafted outfielder Charlie Blackmon in the second round of the 2008 MLB Draft

Here are some of the players drafted after Christian Friedrich in the first round and before the Colorado Rockies second round pick:

• 28th overall pick RHP Gerrit Cole, Yankees (four-time All-Star, finished in the top five of Cy Young voting five times, 31.7 rWAR) *Did not sign*
• 32nd overall pick RHP Jake Odorizzi, Brewers (one-time All-Star, 12.9 rWAR)
• 39th overall pick RHP Lance Lynn, Cardinals (two-time All-Star, three top six finishes in Cy Young voting, 29.4 rWAR)
• 43rd overall pick LHP Wade Miley, D-Backs (one-time All-Star, 16.6 rWAR)
• 2nd round pick (52nd overall) LHP Brad Hand, Marlins (three-time All-Star, 6.7 rWAR)
• 58th overall pick RHP Tyson Ross, A’s (one-time All-Star, 7.5 rWAR)

However, the Colorado Rockies made the best pick of anyone in the second round. They drafted outfielder Charlie Blackmon out of the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Blackmon has been with the Rockies ever since. He has spent parts of 11 seasons in the majors with the Rockies with four All-Star game selections, two Silver Slugger Awards, a batting title, and a 5th place finish in NL MVP voting in 2017. He has a career 19.5 rWAR.

Coincidentally, there was one other second round draft pick in the 2008 Draft who had an rWAR above 10.0 … and he was a teammate of Blackmon. Tyler Chatwood was drafted by the Angels with the pick after the Rockies and he later spent parts of five seasons pitching for the Rockies.

Drafted with the next pick after Chatwood was future Rockies reliever Bryan Shaw. He has been good in the majors but, as Rockies fans know, he did not pitch well for the Rockies.