This was one of those mornings where I haven't actually read any of the reports I'm about to link from the Major League club because they were bound to be depressing:
- Rockies get slammed by Astros in 10th inning - The Denver Post
- Fourth place looks familiar - The Denver Post
- Struggling Helton gets the night off, as does Barmes - The Denver Post
Alright, so that's out of the way, let's recap Day 3 of the draft, shall we? Actually, most of the commentary that came out on Day 3 was analysis of Day 2:
- The Rockies picked Jeff Sackmann's top sleeper in the second round, Chad Bettis. Sackmann notes that Bettis "gets huge numbers of ground balls when he starts."
- Baseball America's Jim Callis likes Bettis and third round selection Josh Rutledge. Callis also tweets reviews of the other NL West drafts (as well as everybody else, but he saved the best for last, so the NL West is at the top of his Twitter page right now).
- Callis and others (see below) have seen fourth round selection Russell Wilson as an overdraft (which is sort of a tradition for Rockies fourth rounders) but I actually like this gamble. I'd rather the Rockies draft an unrefined athlete like Wilson that could turn out starting quality than the typical bullpen/bottom of the rotation arms you see taken in this range.
- John Manuel, also from BA, talked about Wilson and Rockies first round selection Kyle Parker, and the prospects of either continuing to play college football and pro baseball simultaneously in a radio interview, the MP3 of which can be heard here. As Manuel indicates, given the dollars involved and the relative risks of the investments, it makes a lot more sense that Wilson would get the Rockies blessing on that decision than Parker.
- The official Rockies site does give somewhat of a general overview of Day 3. As Bill Schmidt implies, there's not likely to be an impact player added here, so if we do wind up signing one of these later round HS or JC picks before the August 15th deadline, it could be a very good sign as to what the Rockies think their future may hold.
- I've been compiling links of other news on Rockies draft picks in the signing diary. Be sure to check it out as it's constantly being updated.
- If I've figured his schedule correctly, John Sickels will post his preliminary review of the Rockies draft a little after I post this Rockpile (his review should be up at either 10:00 or 11:00 EDT). For now, I'm just linking to his site, but will give the specific link when it's posted. Andy Seiler's review may be posted today as well, he's going alphabetically and is up to Boston.
- The Rockies are in a decent position relative to the rest of the division when it comes to an initial assessment of the draft, but that's all pending players that pundits currently are deeming "unsignable" by the Dodgers (Zach Lee, Kevin Gausman, etc..,), D-backs (Kevin Ziomek and Ty Linton) and other teams (including our own Will Swanner, for instance) actually not signing. Any assessment before that Aug 15th signing deadline has to be taken with a healthy grain of salt.
- The Dodgers in particular have a head scratcher of a draft with a lot of high upside picks that most teams shied away from due to their college commitments. They've already been labeled "draft losers" on the assumption of these players not signing, but that could change in the blink of an eye.