Colorado Rockies select first baseman Michael Toglia as the 23rd overall pick in the 2019 MLB Draft

With the 23rd overall pick in the 2019 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, the Colorado Rockies selected first baseman Michael Toglia (TOH-glee-uh) out of UCLA.

This season, the 20-year-old switch-hitting junior batted .311 (69-for-222) with 45 runs, 16 doubles, four triples, 14 home runs, 57 RBI, 25 walks and 60 strikeouts en route to being named an All-Pac-12 selection for the second consecutive season. The Bruins play against Loyola Marymount this evening in the NCAA Regionals.

Was an All-Pac-12 selection in 2018 after leading the team in RBI (58), doubles (24) and walks (48). He was the only Bruins player to start in all 59 games on the season. Across three seasons with the Bruins, has batted .306 (191-for-624) with 129 runs, 51 doubles, six triples, 148 RBI, 106 walks and 169 strikeouts. During his freshman season in 2017, ranked in the top 10 with his eight home runs and 33 walks.

The Gig Harbor, Wash., native is the eighth infielder ever selected by the Rockies with their first selection in the draft (the sixth in the first round), and the first player selected as a first baseman in the first round by Colorado since Todd Helton in 1995. Additionally, he joins Jayson Nix (2001), Ian Stewart (2003), Chris Nelson (2004), Troy Tulowitzki (2005) and Brendan Rodgers (2015) as infielders selected with Colorado’s first overall pick in the draft.

He was originally drafted by the Rockies in the 35th round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of Gig Harbor High School (Gig Harbor, Wash.), but did not sign.

The Rockies have two more selections on this first day of the draft: the 62nd overall selection in the second round and the 77th overall selection in competitive balance round B.