Two years after bypassing pro deal, Bell taken 10th overall by Rockies

DENVER -- Maybe University of Kentucky switch-hitting shortstop Tyler Bell was headed to the Rockies all along. The club selected him in the first round, 10th overall, in the 2026 MLB Draft on Saturday.

Bell’s father loved skiing and would take the family to Colorado resorts, such as Breckenridge, during winters. The Rockies were never playing when the Bell family was in Colorado, but Tyler could see the park out of the car window. And when he’d dream and play MLB: The Show, he’d place himself at Coors Field for home games.

“Maybe I knew something -- I don’t know,” Bell said. “I’m a hitter. I’m not a pitcher, so I like hitting home runs.”

Taking the connection deeper, Bell played high school ball at Lincoln-Way East in Frankfort, Ill., before going to Kentucky. It was the same path followed by Rockies 2022 fourth-round pick Ryan Ritter, who has seen time in the Majors the past two years and currently is at Triple-A Albuquerque. They both played on the Cangelosi Sparks travel team in Illinois and have trained at the organization’s indoor facility.

“He’s already texted me,” Bell said, smiling.

Cool as the personal connections may be, Bell and the Rockies would love for his play to connect him to the last shortstop that the Rockies took with their initial pick in the MLB Draft -- Troy Tulowitzki, picked seventh overall out of Long Beach State in 2005 before he turned in a standout 10 seasons with the team that included five All-Star selections.

Bell was the first selection of a new front office led by president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta and general manager Josh Byrnes, who brought back many of the decision makers of the past but beefed up the group with more personnel and an increase in advanced data and those operating the information.

The selection of Bell -- with a pick valued at $6,393,100 -- follows a route to the Draft that took as many actual turns as the almost mystic turns that led to he and the Rockies coming together.

• Rockies' 2026 Draft Tracker

For example:

He bet on himself coming out of high school
The Rays selected him 66th overall in 2024, a Draft slot valued at $1,260,200. Bell, though, became the highest pick not to accept a pro offer.

“It was a money thing at the end of the day, but I felt like that dollar figure [didn't represent] who I was as a person and a player, but also how much they wanted to pour into me for their organizational side,” he said. “It turned out to be a really good thing for me because I didn’t sell myself short.”

Bell originally committed to the University of Pittsburgh but talked to his inner circle -- which included Ritter -- before going to Kentucky.

Pain didn’t curtail his Draft year
Bell dislocated and suffered a torn labrum in his left (non-throwing) shoulder while attempting to make a diving play in Kentucky’s first game of the year. But he spurned any suggestion to abandon the decision and prep for the Draft.

“I didn’t come to college to sit out,” said Bell, who wore a brace on the shoulder, re-entered the squad as designated hitter less than a month later and returned to shortstop not long after.

Still, he batted .343 with nine homers and a 1.119 OPS over 41 games on the season. He also made only three errors in 116 chances on defense (.974 fielding percentage). Bell finished up his two-year tenure with the Wildcats with a .314 average, 19 homers and a .993 OPS.

“I waited until after the Draft to get surgery -- I’m going to get together with the Colorado Rockies and just go from there,” he said.

Bell has worked on plate discipline and is athletic enough to be versatile -- two traits the Rockies value
As a freshman at Kentucky, Bell slashed .296/.385/.522 but was unhappy with his 59 strikeouts in 265 plate appearances. After the season, he played in five games for Harwich in the Cape Cod League and appeared for the U.S. collegiate national team in a tournament in Japan.

This past season, he achieved a 1.119 OPS and trimmed his strikeout rate per plate appearance from .211 to .186.

“My whole goal going into the fall was to control the strike zone and have more walks than strikeouts,” said Bell, who almost reached the second goal (30 walks, 36 strikeouts). “It really allowed me to have a bought-in approach, not chasing and swinging outside the zone. I brought that into the swing.”

He is projected as a player who can change positions or play multiple positions.

“I know I am a shortstop but if I need to move over to a different position for a little while just to help out and win, I’m all for it,” he said. “I want to take the quickest route to the big leagues and start helping as quick as possible.”