The 2011 Pioneer League season gets underway on Monday night for the Casper Ghosts, Rookie-level affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, with a game against the Orem Owlz, the Los Angeles Angels' team. Suiting up for the Ghosts will be the Rockies' 32nd round draft pick, Jarod Berggren.
↵The odds are against a 32nd round pick of making the majors. Of all the Rockies' selections from that round, the two best players are likely 1994's selection of Mudcat Brewer for his name and 2005's Jarrad Page for his five-year career (and going) in the NFL.
↵But being drafted by the Rockies is already a dream come true, as he told the Greeley Tribune recently:
↵↵↵"There’s nothing I can really compare it to," he said. "You feel like, not like you accomplished your goal, but you’re one step closer to it."
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He did hit seven triples and seven home runs with a .646 slugging percentage as a junior, but he'll need to adapt to wood bats and some better pitching. But maybe a few years from now we will hear PA announcers across the country say, "And now batting for the Colorado Rockies, Jarod Berggren."