DENVER – The Colorado Rockies picked right-handed pitcher Gabriel Hughes out of Gonzaga with the 10th overall pick in the first day of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, along with two other college players and a high school pitcher.
Hughes became a full-time pitcher this past spring after being a two-way player for the Bulldogs. He went 8-3 with a 3.21 ERA, 138 strikeouts and 37 walks in 98 innings pitched.
He was ninth in the nation in strikeouts, is Gonzaga’s highest ever draft pick, and went 11-4 as a starter in his collegiate career.
The Rockies took the University of Florida’s Sterlin Thompson with the 31st compensatory pick, who played right field and second base this past year for the Gators.
He started every game for Florida this year, hit .354, and had career highs in home runs (11), doubles (16), runs (59), walks (37), and stolen bases (10).
Colorado then selected Jordan Beck with the 38th pick in the competitive balance A round. Beck is an outfielder out of the University of Tennessee who hit .298 this season, with 18 home runs, 61 RBI, and 15 doubles. He was also a 14th-round pick by the Red Sox.
And the Rockies picked Jackson Cox, a right-handed pitcher out of Toutle Lake High School in Toutle, Wash., in the second round of the draft. In 48 innings as a senior this year, he struck out 107 or the 175 batters he faced. He previously committed to play for the University the Oregon.
The draft continues Monday, starting at noon MT, with rounds 3-10.
