Skye Messinger drafted by Rockies

The third and final day of the Major League Baseball draft ended the suspense for Niwot High School grad Skyler Messinger when the Colorado Rockies selected him in the 19th round of the annual amateur draft.

Messenger was draft pick number 566 overall after finishing his collegiate baseball career at the University of Texas. He played third base for Texas this season, posting a .364 batting average with 11 homers and 59 RBI.

After a stellar career as a shortstop at Niwot High, Messenger was drafted in the 22nd round by the Chicago Cubs in 2017 out of high school. He attracted even more attention after hitting a homerun at Coors Field with a wood bat in a postseason high school all-star game. The MLB draft was shortened to only 20 rounds this season, down from 40 rounds before the pandemic.

At the time, Messenger agonized over whether to sign with the Cubs, or pursue a college career at the University of Kansas. He consulted numerous people at the time, including his high school coach, Craig McBride, Chicago Cubs infielder David Bote whose father Bob Bote coached at NHS for many years, and Mike Moat, a NHS grad who returned as a pitching coach after spending four years as a pitcher in the Chicago White Sox organization after playing three years at San Diego State.

In the end, Messenger decided to accept the offer to play at Kansas, and spent four years there as a shortstop-third baseman. He reasoned that an education was important, and if he was good enough, he would be drafted again. Three years into his career at Kansas, his career was affected by Covid.

But Covid also gave him an opportunity for an extra season as a graduate transfer, and after his fourth season at Kansas, Messenger transferred to Texas, where his boyhood idol, former Rockie Troy Tulowitzki, was the infield coach.

Kansas was never in the hunt for a spot in the College World Series, but Texas was highly-ranked most of the season, and earned a spot in the "Greatest Show on Dirt" in Omaha, thanks largely to Messinger's heroics in the regional and super-regional.

Though Texas lost both games in the CWS, Messinger had reached the pinnacle of college baseball, and the added attention earned him a spot on the Rockies' draft board.