The 2011 MLB draft has come and gone, and now the dust has settled. What remains is the difficult task of signing these kids and acclimating them to the life of a professional athlete. But, at this time, I think we can take a look at these prospects and grade the organization's efforts this year. Rox Girl wrote a quite a bit in today's Rockpile, but this will be my take.

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The 1st round and the supplemental round are in the books. As you know, we picked twice yesterday, selecting Oregon's LHP Tyler Anderson with the 20th overall pick, and Texas highschooler Trevor Story with the 45th overall pick. There will be much analysis of these two kids in the coming days, but for now, our attention will be focused on day two of the draft, rounds 2-30. The Rockies will be on the clock with the 77th pick soon. After the jump, players you should know about who are still available. 

Profiles and breakdowns after the jump.

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Please use this thread for discussing the 2011 MLB Rule 4 Draft.

The Rockies pick 20th and 45th.

For more information on the Rockies' upcoming picks and prospects they may be targeting, please reference David Ohno's draft preview and mkorpal's draft preview.

Order past the jump

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ed: We had a bit of a scheduling snafu earlier, so I had to republish this article, but thanks to user mkorpal for contributing additional in-depth draft coverage to supplement the already excellent work by David Ohno.

It's that time of the year again. A time were we look to the high school and college ranks to find the next Todd Helton, the next Troy Tulowitzki, or the next Greg Reynolds (ok, I apologize for that joke, it will not happen again). Of course, it's draft time. This year, we feature a bumper crop of arms and bats, emphases on the arms. This draft has garnered favorable comparisons to the legendary draft of 2005, featuring such stars as the already mentioned Tulowitzki as well as Ryan Braun, Ryan Zimmerman, Justin Upton, Andrew McCutchen, and Jay Bruce. With the 20th pick in the first round this year, the Rockies sit in an interesting spot. Will top draft talent fall to their laps, or will they reach down and snag a guy who they feel is under rated? To be sure, there are a lot of possibilities. David OhNo posted a very comprehensive list of potential picks in the 1st round and beyond. He most likely has covered our eventual pick, but there is still uncertainty. At 20th overall, the situation will most likely remain fluid until we announce the pick.

Click past the jump for some names that may yet end up on the Rockies' draft board.

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With the 2011 MLB Draft less than 24 hours away, the Rockies appear to be the easiest team to forecast in the back half of the first round. Analysts from Keith Law to Baseball America to Frankie Piliere all agree on the same three names associated with the Rockies at pick #20, with the central theme being college bat.

While we cannot dismiss this information, especially with Baseball America’s uncanny ability to relay accurate scoop on late or supplemental first round picks, we still must take all projections with a grain of salt when a team is picking at the back half of the first round.

If you’re looking for an example for when a projection on a late pick like this was accurate, you don’t have to look past last season, when Baseball America hinted at the Rockies closing in on Kyle Parker days before the draft.  While this would suggest that the three names linked to Colorado will likely prove to be the correct outcome, we can also look at the 2008 Draft, when the Rockies surprised most pundits by selecting the sliding Christian Friedrich as an example of Colorado’s unpredictability.  

Will the Rockies lay in the weeds again this year and steal away a higher rated name sliding due to bonus demands, or are we already pretty certain which direction the Rockies will head in tomorrow’s first round?  We’ll attempt to answer this as well as breakdown a few potential prospects all the way through the middle rounds after the jump.

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The 2011 college baseball season begins on Feb. 18, but this week I want to take a look at a tweet from over a week ago (the backlog of player reviews and whatnot kept moving this around). After the regularly-scheduled segment, I have some reader response questions.  

Recently, Baseball America's Jim Callis tweeted:

Had a scouting director who told me yesterday if he could take any college P in this #mlbdraft, he'd take [school and name redacted].

Is this redacted pitcher: A) UCLA RHP Gerrit Cole B) TCU LHP Matt Purke or C) Texas RHP Taylor Jungmann?

Join me after the jump for the answer.

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When June comes rolling around, the Colorado Rockies will hold the 20th overall pick in MLB's Rule 4 First-Year Player Draft. That selection would have moved up three picks to No. 17, but the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres, and the Milwaukee Brewers all failed to sign their first-round choices. As a result, those teams received a compensatory pick slotted immediately after where they selected in the 2010 draft order, giving the D'Backs two picks in the top 10 (No. 3 & No. 7). 

As I said back in November, I wasn't going away from Purple Row; rather, I was just shifting priorities. For the majority of you who don't know, I gained my chops around here during the 2005 draft when Rox Girl and I went back and forth over the Rockies' draft picks that year. I believe we made it through at least 40 rounds.

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As originally reported by Jim Callis of Baseball America, the Rockies have come to terms with their first overall selection of the MLB draft, signing Kyle Parker to a $1.4 million dollar contract near Monday night's deadline. Troy Renck tweets that the deal does allow Parker to continue to play football and the Rockies may have to let him try to juggle both sports for a season or two.

Earlier in the afternoon, it was also announced that the Rockies signed supplemental first round pick Peter Tago for $985,000.