Not His Lucky Day: The Jon Gray Problem

2012 was a rough year for the Colorado Rockies: between the NL lowest 5.22 ERA, an ultimately poor defense, and position players beset by injury, the Rockies struggled to get by with a 64-98 season. Through the misery of the season came a small glimmer of hope, behind the Astros and the Cubs, the Rockies would get the 3rd overall pick of the 2013 Amateur Draft, a draft that promised to bring some talent to the ailing team. With their picks, Houston chose pitcher Mark Appel and the Cubs chose position player Kris Bryant, leaving the Rockies with the obvious choice of pursuing Jon Gray, an incredibly talented collegiate pitcher from the University of Oklahoma. At the time both Appel and Gray were considered to be amongst the best up and coming pitchers and both were highly sought after by MLB franchises. In the nearly three years since the 2013 Amateur Draft, the results have begun to play out: pick #1 Appel bounced between minor league affiliates within the Astros organization before winding up with Phillies AAA affiliate Lehigh Valley in 2016. Pick #2, Bryant has become a household name in Chicago and a thorn in the side of the [...]

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