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Rockies draft pick may end up on the slow road
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Troy Tulowitzki. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
“With the 11th pick in the 2009 Major League Baseball draft, the Colorado Rockies select left-handed pitcher Tyler Matzek from Capistrano Valley California High School.”
Hold off on those celebrations. As Rockies fans, if we’re lucky, and Tyler is lucky, we MIGHT see him in about six years. Enjoy the bus rides, kid. If form holds true, you won’t hear much about Tyler becoming a Colorado Rockie…ever.
Matzek has already committed to playing college baseball at the University of Oregon, but is most likely to take the money and the bus rides instead. According to a story in The Oregonian, Matzek was the top high school pitcher in this draft, and using his scholarship to Oregon as leverage, will seek a monster signing bonus from the Rockies. Oregon is holding out hope he’ll turn down the Rockies and choose college instead. We’ll see.
While it’s easy to sit here and say I’d turn down a seven figure signing bonus if I were in Tyler’s spikes (I never had to make that decision), the fact is, Tyler and his family would be better off in the long run if they choose Oregon and put professional baseball on hold for three years. Believe me, the next three years of young Mr. Matzek’s life will be critical in his development as a player and more importantly as a person. Like all 18 year old kids, Tyler has a lot of growing up to do. Would he be better off doing so in college, or in the dog eat dog world of professional baseball? History tells us that going to college and maturing as a person is far and away the best path to success in baseball…and in life.
The best way to sum it up comes from University of Nebraska baseball coach Mike Anderson: “The bottom line is this: You look at a young man and say, ‘Are you going to be a big leaguer?’ And if his answer is yes, and he’s that confident, then he should be at the University of Nebraska,” Anderson said. “He can come, get an education, improve and in three or four years from now start his professional career and make it to the big leagues.
“If you’re not confident that you’re going to make it to the big leagues, then take that money, that $250,000, and sign and play three or four years and run, because your money that you’re going to make is when you make it to the big leagues.”
Of course the debate rages on every year about this time, with the pros and cons of baseball’s draft process getting thrown around like so many wild pitches. But the facts are the facts, and they show that for the Colorado Rockies, for example, drafting kids out of high school with your first round pick has been less than a successful venture.
The Rockies have actually gone much more with college players with their first pick in recent years. The last three years, it’s been college pitchers, with only Greg Reynolds from Stanford reaching the big leagues as of yet (that’s for another column.). Before that, it was Troy Tulowitzki, the shortstop who made a couple of brief stops in the minors before making his presence felt in the Majors. Tulo was drafted out of Long Beach State in 2005 and was the ‘Should-Have-Been” National League Rookie of the Year in 2007. College proved to be the fast track for Tulo, just has it was for Todd Helton and others.
Meanwhile, the player drafted in the first round the year BEFORE Tulo, Chris Nelson, who is also a shortstop, was picked out of high school and is STILL wallowing in the minor leagues. Of the last dozen first round picks in franchise history, only Ian Stewart – picked in 2003 – has made an impact in the majors as a high school draftee, and it took him five years to get to the big leagues. The others on that list include Matt Harrington, Matt Roney and Mark Mangum…remember them? Meanwhile, during those same dozen years, the Rockies have also drafted Jason Jennings and Jeff Francis out of the college ranks. This begs the question: What kind of business sense is it to hand a seven figure signing bonus over to any 18-year-old, when the odds are he will NEVER even wear your major league uniform?
While there is no perfect system, baseball could fix all this by cutting their overblown draft down from the ludicrous 50+ rounds to a reasonable 12, while eliminating the lower three levels of minor league teams and forcing kids to choose college or junior college route instead of rookie ball. This is an area where football and basketball – with its minimum age requirement – have both seen the light while MLB remains in the dark.
For more info: Colorado Rockies Examiner Travis Lay
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