Russell Wilson finally coming to Denver, with Broncos not Rockies

Nearly 12 years after the Colorado Rockies drafted him in the fourth round of the 2010 MLB Draft, Russell Wilson is finally calling Denver home. It, however, will be with the Denver Broncos and not the Rockies.

Following a massive NFL trade on Tuesday, Wilson will reportedly leave the Seattle Seahawks as part of a league-shifting deal with the Broncos. As of the time of this writing, a physical still needed to be conducted and Wilson had to waive his no-trade clause to make the trade official. However, all signs are pointing to the quarterback who beat the Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII now leading the Broncos in a quest to return to the Super Bowl.

The Colorado Rockies will finally get to see Russell Wilson as part of the Denver sports culture, but as the quarterback of the Denver Broncos

As we detailed in this article, Wilson’s ties to baseball run deep, with the quarterback calling the sport in recent years “actually my best sport” during a podcast appearance. The Rockies saw hints of Wilson’s baseball talents, enough to draft him in the fourth round with the hopes that Wilson could turn into an infielder of the future for the franchise.

In fact, Wilson played in 93 minor league games as part of the Rockies franchise, manning second base in two levels of Class A, including 32 games at short-season Tri-Cities and 61 games at full-season Asheville in 2011. In 315 combined at-bats between the two levels, Wilson posted a slash line of .229/.354/.356 with five homers and 26 RBI.

Wilson’s baseball dreams, however, were put on hold when the Seahawks drafted him in the third round of the 2012 NFL draft. Wilson started all 16 games for Seattle that season, and has started 158 games for the franchise since taking over at the start of 2012.

And what of Wilson and baseball? The Texas Rangers claimed Wilson off waivers before the 2014 baseball season began and he was traded to the New York Yankees just before the start of 2018 spring training. He remains a member of the Yankees organization while being placed on the restricted list.

Broncos fans are hoping that Wilson can kickstart the franchise back to its winning ways and perhaps capture some of the magic that Peyton Manning found after signing in Denver following a successful career in Indianapolis. Meanwhile, Rockies fans can finally cheer for Wilson in a Denver home jersey, albeit an orange one rather than purple.