The Rockies, not content with one flame-throwing pitcher, picked two more late on the first day of the Major League Baseball draft, grabbing right-hander Robert Tyler from the University of Georgia and lefty Ben Bowden from Vanderbilt.
“Mark Wiley (Rockies director of pitching) held us to the ground and told us we’d be drafting pitchers,” joked Bill Schmidt, Colorado vice president of scouting. “But really, the board fell that way.”
Tyler, with the 38th pick, gives them another power arm from the right side after the Rockies picked high-schooler Riley Pint at No. 4. The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Tyler, who will turn 21 next week, throws a fastball regularly at 96 mph.