General manager Jeff Bridich and his team of scouts are going all-in on adding power arms to the Colorado Rockies’ organization, selecting three pitchers Thursday in the opening two rounds of the 2016 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.
With the fourth overall pick Colorado selected right-handed pitcher Riley Pint from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Overland Park, Kan.
The 18-year-old, went 6-1 with a 0.50 ERA this season for St. Thomas Aquinas with 75 strikeouts in 42 innings pitched. In his most recent outing, Pint struck out 12 in a quarterfinal victory for St. Thomas Aquinas en route to winning the Kansas 5A state championship. In his junior season in 2015, he went 5-2 with a 2.20 ERA and 47 strikeouts in 35 innings pitched.
The 6-foot-4-inch, 210-pound right-hander was selected as a 2016 Perfect Game First Team All-American and Central All-Region First Team member. He was named the Gatorade Player of the Year in Kansas in both his junior and senior seasons.
With the 38th overall pick Colorado selected right-handed pitcher Robert Tyler from the University of Georgia. Then, with the 45th overall pick in the second round of the draft, the Rockies selected left-handed pitcher Ben Bowden from Vanderbilt University.
Tyler, a junior at the University of Georgia, went 3-5 with a 4.10 ERA, 46 walks and 89 strikeouts in 74.2 innings pitched for the Bulldogs. His .200 opponent batting average was third in the Southeastern Conference in the regular season. He was named the Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week and SEC Co-Pitcher of the Week after carrying a no-hitter through 8.2 innings pitched against Alabama on April 1.
In his three years at Georgia, Tyler went 10-10 with a 3.62 ERA, 79 walks and 182 strikeouts in 179 innings pitched across 35 games, 32 starts.
The 6-foot-4-inch, 225-pound right-hander was ranked as the 25th overall prospect by MLB.com and the 29th overall prospect by Baseball America. Tyler was originally drafted in the 28th round of the 2013 MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Baltimore Orioles out of Crisp County High School in Cordele, Ga.
Bowden, a junior at Vanderbilt University, went 2-1 with 10 saves, a 3.51 ERA, 14 walks and 65 strikeouts in 48.2 innings pitched across 24 appearances, five starts, for the Commodores. In his sophomore season with Vanderbilt, Bowden went 6-1 with a 2.89 ERA across 26 relief appearances, striking out 49 and walking 14 across 37.1 innings pitched.
In the 2015 Cape Cod League, the 6-foot-4-inch, 225-pound left-hander did not allow a run in 10 relief appearances, allowing only five hits and eight walks while striking out 31 across 17.1 innings pitched. He named the co-MVP of the playoffs after striking out 12 in 12.2 innings pitched.
The Lynn, Mass. native was ranked as the 67th overall player by MLB.com and the 75th overall player by Baseball America.
This is the second consecutive year the Rockies have taken a high school pitcher in the first round (Mike Nikorak, 2015) and the first high school pitcher to be selected with the club’s first overall pick since Tyler Matzek was taken 11th overall out of Capistrano Valley High School in 2009.