It was December 2017 when Triple-A Albuquerque reliever Mitch Horacek, stuck in a minor league rut in the Orioles organization, awoke to news in his Denver apartment that changed his career. The ThunderRidge High School graduate had been claimed by the Rockies in the Rule 5 Draft.
“With Baltimore, I was kind of stuck — I spent three full seasons in High-A, and I was given an opportunity, but at the time I sort of felt like I was in a dead-end job. It was a tough situation,” Horacek said.
“I really didn’t think I was going to get picked, because my numbers from the 2017 season weren’t anything that jumped off the page.