Colorado Rockies 2011 MLB Draft: The drafting of Trevor Story

We continue our draft series by looking back at the Colorado Rockies draft picks from the 2011 MLB Draft. The Rockies were coming off of what ended up being a so-so draft class that got to that level due to their lower draft picks (second round and later).

It ended up being that way for a few drafts as the Rockies didn’t have a good first round draft pick since 2005, with Troy Tulowitzki. They drafted future franchise stars or future MLB pieces in Charlie Blackmon, Nolan Arenado, and Chad Bettis in the last three drafts but in the second round.

However, at least with this draft, the Colorado Rockies were successful in the first round with both of their picks.

The Colorado Rockies drafted Tyler Anderson in the first round of the 2011 MLB Draft

In the 2011 MLB Draft, the Colorado Rockies had the 20th overall pick of the draft. Drafted above their pick included some very good future MLB players including Gerrit Cole, Trevor Bauer, Anthony Rendon, Francisco Lindor, Javier Baez, George Springer, Brandon Nimmo, the late José Fernández, C.J. Cron, and Sonny Gray.

With their first pick in the draft, the Rockies drafted left-handed pitcher Tyler Anderson.

Anderson has spent six seasons in the majors through 2021 and he pitched for the Rockies in parts of four of them. He had a 4.69 ERA (104 ERA+) in 73 games (71 starts). He pitched well for the Rockies in his last full season with the team in 2018 (2.8 rWAR) but in 2019, he struggled with a knee injury all season and after that, the Rockies let him go via waivers.

The Colorado Rockies also drafted Trevor Story in the first round of the 2011 MLB Draft

The Colorado Rockies also had a comp pick in the draft for losing reliever Octavio Dotel to free agency, despite Dotel only playing with the Rockies for the final two weeks of the 2010 season.

That pick? A shortstop by the name of Trevor Story.

Through 2021, he played six seasons in the majors (all with the Rockies) and he has been an All-Star twice and he won two Silver Slugger Award. He also received MVP votes in three seasons and was fourth in the 2016 NL Rookie of the Year voting. Had he not been injured for the final two months of the season, he may have even won it.

So they acquired Octavio Dotel for two weeks to get a comp pick and that pick ends up being Trevor Story. Talk about a good pick.

The problem for the Rockies in this draft was that their later picks fell flat.

In the second round, they drafted an outfielder by the name of Carl Thomore. He never got above Rookie-ball with the Rockies as he never hit above .208. He never played above Single-A at all and was out of affiliated ball by 2014. Not a good pick at all.

Seven picks later, the Braves drafted a shortstop by the name of Nick Ahmed. Ahmed was later traded to the D-Backs and he’s won two Gold Gloves in the majors. He’s not Trevor Story but he’s a heck of a lot better than Carl Thomore.