First five rounds: Michael Toglia (1-23), Aaron Schunk (2-62), Karl Kauffmann (CBB-77), Jacob Wallace (3-100), Brenton Doyle (4-129), Will Etheridge (5-159)
Also notable: Jared Horn (7-219), Isaac Collins (9-279), Fineas Del-Bonta Smith (22-669), Hayden Dunhurst (37-1119)
The Rockies went exclusively to the college side in this draft, selecting college players with their first thirty picks before taking nine high schoolers with their final ten picks. How much first rounder Michael Toglia signs for will change everything, but for now, they're sitting a combined $102,700 below slot and may go after some of those high schoolers with over slot bonuses. Back at the early part of the draft, the Rockies grabbed two big bats in Toglia and Aaron Schunk before pivoting to pitching, selecting arms with six of their next seven picks. As an exclusively collegiate draft class, at least for the first 29 rounds plus a competitive balance pick, this draft prioritizes quick-to-the-majors talent over risky upside plays, and aside from Toglia and fourth rounder Brenton Doyle, their early picks actually prioritize safety and speed of development even when compared to other college players. That means that aside from Toglia and perhaps Schunk, there likely won't be much true-impact talent here, but the group as a whole should move quickly and we could start to see names from this draft class make the majors as soon as 2020 and 2021.
1-23: 1B Michael Toglia (UCLA, my rank: 54)
If it were any other team picking Toglia at #23, I wouldn't be a huge fan, but he'll fit really well in the thin air in Colorado. Toglia had a huge sophomore season at UCLA (11 HR, .336/.449/.588), then after starting slowly as a junior, heated up as the season went on and finished with 17 home runs, a .314/.392/.624 line, and a 65/30 strikeout to walk ratio over 63 games. He has a ton of raw pop from both sides of the plate, using his 6'5" frame and simple swing to muscle balls out of the park. However, he does have swing and miss questions, as his 65 strikeouts actually led his team and added up to a 23.4% rate, up from 21.2% as a sophomore. He also holds a .224/.313/.412 slash line with 13 home runs and a 77/29 strikeout to walk ratio (22.6% K-rate) over 71 Cape Cod League games between two seasons, showing some power but not much else there. Back on the bright side, Toglia is very young for a college junior and won't turn 21 until August, and when you combine that with the fact that switch hitters sometimes take a bit longer to develop, all the questions about his hit tool don't look quite as bad. In Toglia, the Rockies are getting a power hitter who will hit some moonshots in Coors Field, with strikeout concerns as well as the pressure that being a first baseman puts on his bat weighing down his profile a bit until and if he can prove himself. With Coors helping his numbers, he could hit 30+ home runs annually at his ceiling with middling on-base percentages. The Tacoma, Washington-area native has not signed yet, but slot value is $2.93 million and it likely won't cost more than that for him to put pen to paper.
2-62: 3B Aaron Schunk (Georgia, my rank: 80)
Schunk, like Toglia, had a bit of a late-season surge that really bumped up his stock. By ranking him 80th, I had him significantly higher than MLB Pipeline (#92) and Baseball America (#117), and I honestly like this pick at #62. Schunk was known as a contact hitter for much of his career, especially after slashing .299/.340/.411 as a sophomore at Georgia and starting his junior season with more of a bump in on-base percentage than power, but that changed recently. With the Bulldogs' season complete, Schunk finished with 15 home runs, a .339/.373/.604 slash line, and a 29/14 strikeout to walk ratio over 57 games, and that's a profile that can play up, too. The Atlanta native always had whip in his swing but added loft this year, and with his strikeout rate only going up from 10.5% to 11.5%, the new approach to hitting shouldn't slow his hit tool down at all in pro ball. He makes extremely easy contact from the right side, but that does impact his walk rate, as he walked in just 5.5% of his plate appearances this year and his on-base percentage will be very dependent on his batting average. Defensively, he's a good-fielding third baseman with a strong arm that also helped him post a 2.49 ERA as Georgia's closer this year, so he will be an easy net-positive there as well. Aside from the walk rate, the only real knock on Schunk's game is his age, as he's a full year older than Toglia and will turn 22 in July. He signed right at slot value for $1.1 million and is 1-8 with a pair of strikeouts in his first two games for Boise in the short-season Northwest League.
CBB-77: RHP Karl Kauffmann (Michigan, my rank: 118)
Karl Kauffmann is your generic second-tier big conference starter, as he has had plenty of success at Michigan with average stuff. This year, he has a 2.66 ERA, a 1.05 WHIP, and a 104/30 strikeout to walk ratio over 121.2 innings through his first College World Series start, recently holding a very good UCLA lineup that included two Day One picks (and two potential future Day One picks) to two runs on six baserunners over 8.1 innings in super regionals. The 6'2" Detroit-area native throws a low 90's fastball that's tough to square up due to its run and sink, adding a pretty good slider and changeup that will, in their current state, most likely keep hitters honest more than they'll miss bats. He has a smooth delivery that doesn't include much effort and he seems to swing his stride leg out before he releases the ball, which I just find interesting. I'm not sure if the Rockies could get a little more velocity out of him if they tinkered with that, but they're probably better off leaving it as is. Slot value is $805,600, and I doubt it will take more than that to sign him.
3-100: RHP Jacob Wallace (Connecticut, my rank: 106)
Wallace was exceptional as UConn's closer this year, posting a 0.73 ERA, a 0.81 WHIP, and a 56/10 strikeout to walk ratio over 37 innings and punctuating the season by striking out twelve of the last fifteen batters he faced over five perfect innings in two NCAA regional appearances against a good Oklahoma State offense. He also starred in the Cape Cod League, striking out 25 and walking just five over 13.2 shutout innings against that elite competition. The Northern Massachusetts native sits in the mid to upper 90's with his fastball and adds a slider that is a true swing and miss pitch at its best, though it can soften up at times. His command isn't pinpoint but it's good enough, and he has closer upside if he can get more consistent with that slider. Like Toglia, he doesn't turn 21 until August, making him young for a college junior and giving him a little extra time to refine his game. He signed at slot for $581,600.
4-129: OF Brenton Doyle (Shepherd, unranked)
The Rockies went off the beaten path a little bit by taking Doyle out of Shepherd University, a Division II school in Shepherdstown, West Virginia near Martinsburg. Because of that, he's a bit hard to get a read on, but it's hard to argue with a .392/.502/.758 slash line and far more walks (42) than strikeouts (22). He's a big guy at 6'3" and shows plus raw power, and the Rockies are hoping that his low strikeout rate at Shepherd (9.5%) helps ease the transition from DII to pro ball, where he could hopefully use his strength to get to his power consistently. He's also faster than your typical physical power hitter and has a strong arm, giving him the potential to impact the game in every facet. It's risky given that he's not proven against good pitching, but he has high upside for a college hitter in this range. The Warrenton, Virginia native signed for $500,000, which was $61,300 above slot.
5-159: RHP Will Ethridge (Mississippi, unranked)
After taking Ryan Rolison in the first round last year, the Rockies went back to Ole Miss to grab his former rotation mate, Will Ethridge. While he's not as flashy and lacks the upside of Rolison, Ethridge has been a steady hand in the Rebels rotation this year, posting a 3.39 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP, and a 73/24 strikeout to walk ratio over 93 innings. The Atlanta native is a big guy at 6'5" and 240 pounds, and with solid command of three pitches, he has the chance to be a #4 or #5 starter. However, with those three pitches being a low 90's fastball, a decent slider that can get loopy at times, and a changeup that gets swings and misses at times, so the current package won't be quite enough to get him to the majors, and certainly not enough to succeed at Coors. However, he's just a little bit of positive trend away from being that back-end starter, so the Rockies will take those chances and hope for the best. Slot value is $327,200.
7-219: RHP Jared Horn (California, unranked)
Usually one guy in every write up has had a "wild ride," but perhaps nobody I've written about has had to go through what Jared Horn has gone through. A top prospect out of high school in Napa, California who ranked 32nd on my 2016 draft list, Horn instead opted to attend the University of California, making him the second highest ranked player to get to campus after #27 Drew Mendoza. He had an up and down freshman season, but during the fall of his freshman year, a drunk driver crashed into the car he was driving, killing his father, uncle, brother, and cousin and leaving him as the only survivor (you can read more here). While dealing with the very toughest of circumstances, Horn struggled through his sophomore season with a 6.15 ERA. After an appendectomy forced him out of the first month of his junior season this year, he had almost completely fallen off of draft radars. However, when he returned in March, he looked like the guy he was in high school; he posted a 2.06 ERA, a 1.03 WHIP, and a 62/21 strikeout to walk ratio over 74.1 innings, including a string of four straight 8+ inning starts against Washington State, Arizona, UCLA, and Oregon. He's 6'4" and throws a low 90's fastball with some run as well as a big breaking curveball, a decent slider, and an emerging changeup. His command improved from mediocre in 2017-2018 to solid average in 2019, though he does throw with some effort. Overall, Horn will need to sharpen his secondary stuff a little bit and prove that he can handle a pro workload, but he has more upside than Ethridge and could be a #3 or #4 starter if he continues on this trajectory. He signed for $198,500, right at slot, and doesn't turn 21 until July, making him young for his class.
9-279: 2B Isaac Collins (Creighton, unranked)
The Rockies went for a utility man in the ninth round, taking Isaac Collins out of Creighton. The Minneapolis-area native had a good junior season, slashing .293/.366/.479 with six home runs and a 42/27 strikeout to walk ratio, also adding 13 stolen bases in 54 games. He also slashed .308/.381/.367 over 38 games on the Cape, showing that his bat does have some impact. Collins has a quick, uppercut swing that reminds me a little bit of a left handed Dustin Pedroia, and as a 5'9" second baseman, the comparison makes sense. None of his tools are as loud as Pedroia's and he won't be nearly the same caliber player, but Collins could carve out a role as a speedy utility infielder with the ability to handle the bat, especially in Coors Field. He signed for $150,500, right at slot, and is slashing .235/.222/.294 with a 5/0 strikeout to walk ratio across his first four games with Schunk at Boise.
22-669: RHP Fineas Del Bonta-Smith (San Jose State, unranked)
I know nothing about Fineas Del Bonta-Smith other than he had a 4.85 ERA, a 1.48 WHIP, and a 31/11 strikeout to walk ratio over 29.2 innings at San Jose State this year and that he's from Soquel, California, but man, what a name.
37-1119: C Hayden Dunhurst (Pearl River HS [MS], my rank: 110)
As a potential third round pick based on talent alone, Dunhurst probably won't sign here, and he'll instead wind up at Ole Miss and replace Cooper Johnson, who himself was a highly rated draft prospect as a high schooler, behind the plate in Oxford. Dunhurst is a stocky, strong, 5'11" catcher from Southern Mississippi near the Louisiana line who hits for plenty of power, but he's raw around most of his game. Despite a strong arm, he's not nearly the defender that Johnson is, but he's trending in the right direction and should be able to stick behind the plate. At the plate, he has the aforementioned power, but he hasn't proven that he can get to it consistently and we'll have to watch how he fares against tough SEC pitching. He has upside, but like most high school catchers, he has plenty of risk too.
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