Eli Whitney | July 12, 2026
The first draft of the Paul DePodesta era in Colorado has a shape, and it’s not subtle: premium positions, elite plate discipline, and – by the front office’s own admission – more talent than anyone in the draft room expected to still be on the board.
The Rockies opened the 2026 MLB Draft on Saturday by taking Kentucky shortstop Tyler Bell 10th overall, then landed the biggest surprise of their night at pick 37: Georgia catcher Daniel Jackson, the reigning Golden Spikes Award winner as the best amateur player in the country. UCLA right-hander Logan Reddemann followed at 38, Cincinnati catcher Jack Natili went at 76, and Mississippi State reliever Ben Davis closed the night at 104.
“I don’t think any of us woke up this morning expecting that we would have gotten all those guys,” DePodesta told reporters on a Zoom availability Saturday night.
Bell at 10: “We Feel He Can Stay a Shortstop”
The headliner was covered at length in Tyler Bell, but the front office’s evaluation is worth adding to the record. Tanous called Bell
Assistant General Manager Tommy Tanous called Bell a switch-hitting SEC shortstop with elite on-base ability who brings power, defensive value, and strong instincts every day — and made a point of the injury context.
“He played through a significant shoulder injury this year, lost a little bit of time, came back, and really ended up having an extremely productive year,” Tanous said. “To find a shortstop this productive that we feel can stay a shortstop is pretty special for us.”
On the medical plan for that shoulder, the club stayed noncommittal: “We’re going to let our medical people look at it and make a decision on that,” Tanous said. “It’s probably too early for us to comment on it.”
And for those keeping score on the shortstop logjam question — Colorado has now used consecutive first-rounders on the position after Ethan Holliday in 2025 — Tanous shut it down directly: both players stay at short.
“That does not mean they are not shortstops when you put them at center field for a day or second base,” he said, “but both of those players are going to get the majority of their time developing at shortstop.”
Jackson at 37: The Pick Nobody Saw Coming
By any conventional draft logic, Daniel Jackson should not have been available in the competitive balance round. The Georgia catcher won both the Golden Spikes Award and the Dick Howser Trophy in 2026, slashed .379/.473/.803 with 32 home runs — second-most in the country — and became the third player in Division I history, and the third catcher, to post a 25-homer, 25-steal season. He helped lead Georgia to a third-place College World Series finish.
He is the fourth Golden Spikes winner ever drafted by the Rockies, joining Charlie Condon (2024), Kip Bouknight (2001), and Jason Jennings (1999). Condon went third overall. Jackson went 37th.
DePodesta’s own explanation stayed general: the club had Jackson high on its board and jumped when he was there.
“We had a lot of attention focused on these players throughout the entire spring,” he said. “The draft plays out one time, in real time, and it’s one of many possible iterations… but that’s the one you roll with.”
Two Catchers — “Maybe We Took Three”
Jackson and Natili give Colorado two decorated college catchers in its first four picks, and DePodesta didn’t hide his enthusiasm for the demographic.
“Maybe I’m showing a little bit of my bias here in terms of where I think a team is built from,” he said. “These are two really, really good ones.”
Natili, an All-Big 12 selection for the second straight year, hit .339/.424/.674 with 19 home runs for Cincinnati — and hit three home runs in a single game on three separate occasions in 2026, the only player this decade to accomplish the feat.
The front office is clear-eyed that the power in its newest draftees comes with swing-and-miss.
“Are you going to take some swing and miss with that? Yeah, you probably are,” DePodesta said. “But given the balance here.. that was a trade well worth making.”
Tanous framed the development plan around the strike zone: “The focus when we develop these players is always to be aware of their strike-zone ability and how we build on that.”
And the third catcher? That’s a DePodesta joke with a real scouting note inside it — Ben Davis, the Mississippi State reliever taken at 104, is a converted catcher.
“Maybe we took three catchers today,” DePodesta said.
The Arms: Reddemann and Davis
Reddemann, taken 38th, went 8-0 with a 2.87 ERA and 84 strikeouts in 59.2 innings for UCLA after transferring from San Diego, including an 18-strikeout game at Rutgers on April 10 that matched the program record. Tanous raved about the breadth of the repertoire.
“This is one of the bigger arsenals you’ll see — it’s almost a professional arsenal,” Tanous said. “Cutter, sweeper, more traditional curveball, changeup. The last six or seven games, he really came on… he’s throwing 95-96. What stands out is the ability to throw that arsenal and throw it for strikes.”
Davis went 0-2 with five saves and a 3.64 ERA with 57 strikeouts in 47 innings as Mississippi State’s late-inning arm.
“This is a big horse,” Tanous said. “You do not want to be in the batter’s box against him. It’s a big moving fastball that we feel like we can actually develop even more… it’s really high-octane stuff.”
DePodesta added a Coors-shaped footnote on both arms: the club has “a vision in our mind about different pitches that may play better in Coors than others,” though he said that wasn’t a driving consideration with these two — and hinted at future tweaks.
“I wouldn’t be surprised as they move forward that we make some tweaks to their repertoire in order to optimize them.”
The Regime’s First Draft
Asked to sum up the day, DePodesta described a board that broke right and a room that was ready for it. He also confirmed that no picks have signed yet — “no one has officially signed,” Tanous said when the question came up.
As for DePodesta himself, back in an MLB draft room for the first time in years, the old instincts apparently die hard.
“I was sort of jonesing to trade picks,” he said, laughing. “It was great to be back in there with all the guys. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We get 16 more.”
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