Colorado Rockies draft preview: ESPN insider gives his thoughts

On a conference call with members of the media on Tuesday morning, ESPN MLB insider Kiley McDaniel gave his thoughts on what direction the Colorado Rockies might go with the 10th overall pick in the 2022 MLB Draft.

Position player or pitcher: Which direction will the Colorado Rockies take when the 2022 MLB draft gets underway?

The Colorado Rockies have the 10th overall pick in the 2022 MLB draft, which will begin on Sunday, July 17. McDaniel admitted that knowing which direction the Rockies might go in the draft was going to be tough.

“There are certain teams where I know two or three out of the four that they’re going to be considering (in the draft). You get a pretty good idea and see other guys at games who seem to be pretty transparent with other people in the industry,” McDaniel said. “Colorado is not that team. I usually don’t know what they’re doing.”

McDaniel, however, pointed back to Colorado’s recent success in the MLB draft with high school position players, such as outfielder Zac Veen and catcher Drew Romo, who are now the number one and three prospects in the organization, respectively. With that strategy still potentially in mind for the 2022 MLB draft, McDaniel believes the Rockies may go back to what he calls “their comfort zone” when it comes to draft strategy.

Justin Crawford was mentioned by McDaniel as a potential fit for the Rockies (learn more him here). MLB.com lists him as the 13th-highest prospect so the son of former All-Star outfielder Carl Crawford who is committed to Louisiana State University could well be in play when the Rockies are on the clock.

McDaniel also believes that the Rockies may be in a position like the Kansas City Royals (who have the pick before the Rockies at number nine) to take potentially the first pitcher of the draft. All other picks before the Royals seem destined to go with a position player.

Could the Rockies take a college pitcher with their pick? McDaniel thinks that is also a possibility.

“It gets pretty animated in a room when it’s like, ‘Do we want to take the ninth hitter on our board or the first pitcher?’ That seems like a nice, shiny thing to hang your hat on, if you want to mix metaphors,” McDaniel said of the Rockies potentially selecting the first pitcher of the draft.

McDaniel indicated he could have the Rockies selecting a college pitcher in his final mock draft. We will link to that when it becomes available.