Another recent Rockies first round pick retires

If watching the Colorado Rockies makes you want to stop watching baseball, imagine what playing for them is like.

For the second time in the last five years, a former first round pick of the purple has decided to call it quits before reaching the majors.

Benny Montgomery — the eighth overall pick by the Rockies in the 2021 draft — has retired. A toolsy outfielder out of Red Land High School in Pennsylvania, Montgomery was long touted for his speed and raw power but never put it together at the plate.

He hit .203/.272/.372 with seven homers and a 37.0% strikeout rate in 41 games at Double-A Hartford this season — numbers that underscore the contact issues that dogged him throughout his climb. He walks away at 23 without ever reaching Triple-A, let alone Coors Field.

So far the 2021 class has turned out to be a tough one, with the highlight being No. 27 Jackson Merrill of the Padres.

Montgomery is not the first recent top pick to hang it up early. Riley Pint, the Rockies’ fourth overall selection in 2016, was a flame-throwing prep right-hander whose command never matched his velocity. Pint first retired in 2021, returned to the organization later that year, eventually made his major league debut and then stepped away from the game again.

For a franchise that can’t seem to develop its top picks, it’s another swing and a miss. Maybe Paul DePodesta and company can clean that up.