SCOTTSDALE - With the 22nd overall pick in the 2018 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, the Colorado Rockies selected left-handed pitcher Ryan Rolison out of the University of Mississippi.
 
The 20-year-old sophomore has gone 10-4 with a 3.70 ERA (97.1 IP, 40 ER), 88 hits, 45 walks and 120 strikeouts for Ole Miss this season, guiding them to a NCAA Regional. He was originally selected by the San Diego Padres in the 37th round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft but elected to play at Ole Miss, where he earned Freshman All-American honors in 2017.
 
The 6-foot-2, 195-pound native of Jackson, Tenn., joins Drew Pomeranz, who was selected by the Cleveland Indians with the fifth overall pick in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft, as the only pitchers to be drafted in the first round in school history.
 
Rolison is the seventh left-handed pitcher to be selected by the Rockies in the first round, joining Kyle Freeland (2014), Tyler Anderson (2011), Tyler Matzek (2009), Christian Friedrich (2008), Jeff Francis (2002) and Doug Million (1994). This is the 20th time in franchise history that the Rockies have selected a pitcher in the first round, the 10th time they have selected a college pitcher with their first overall pick.
 
The Rockies have two more selections on this first day of the draft: the 42nd overall selection in the Competitive Balance Round A and the 76th overall selection as a compensation pick for losing reliever Greg Holland to free agency.