The Rockies don't have a lot going right at the big-league level these days, but their draft room clearly did its homework on Jack Scott. Colorado popped the Central Missouri right-hander in the 7th round of this year's draft, and instead of letting him get to campus or negotiating him down to save pool money, they went the other direction entirely.
7th-rder Jack Scott signs w/@Rockies for $247,500 (slot 194 value = $327,700). @Mules_Baseball RHP, 92-97 mph fastball, interesting slider, throws strikes. Trending up before internal brace surgery this spring. @MLBDraft
Per Callis, Scott signed for $247,500 against a slot value of $327,700 at pick 194 -- meaning Colorado actually paid under slot in raw dollars, but that number still dwarfs what a typical 7th-round arm coming off a lost season usually commands. The reason is simple: before he got hurt, this was a legit prospect. He's a Mules righty who was reportedly touching 92-97 mph with a slider scouts liked, and a track record of throwing strikes -- the kind of profile that gets 3rd- or 4th-round buzz when healthy.
The catch is Scott barely pitched. He made just 3 starts for Central Missouri this season before his year ended with an internal brace procedure, a hybrid Tommy John-style elbow surgery that's become increasingly common for pitchers looking to bounce back faster than a full UCL reconstruction. In those 3 outings he was still filthy -- 3 earned runs on 6 hits with 11 strikeouts and 7 walks over 7 1/3 innings -- but that's a tiny, injury-shortened sample for a guy Colorado is now paying like a priority arm.
That's the bet here. The Rockies aren't paying for what Scott did on a mound this spring -- they're paying for the guy scouts saw touching upper-90s before the elbow gave out, betting the rehab clock resets and the stuff comes back intact. It's the same math a lot of clubs run late on draft day now: find the injured arm with a track record, pay him like he's still on the trajectory he was on before the MRI, and let player development sort it out over the next 12-18 months.
For a Rockies farm system that desperately needs pitching depth and swing-and-miss stuff at any developmental stage, adding a $92-97 mph arm on a rehab timeline is a low-cost, high-variance play. If Scott comes back throwing like he did before the internal brace, this becomes one of those under-the-radar Day 2 signings people point to years later. If the arm doesn't bounce back the same, it's $247,500 well spent on a lottery ticket nobody outside Kansas City was paying attention to in July.