Baseball: Balcom-Miller goes to Rockies in sixth round

Former Douglas High pitcher Chris Balcom-Miller was taken by the Colorado Rockies in the sixth-round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft Wednesday morning.

The 6-2, 210-pound righty was taken with the 181st pick of the draft, the highest for any Douglas player since Shawn Estes was taken with the 11th pick of the 1991 draft by the Seattle Mariners.

It is also the third-highest pick in Douglas High history behind Estes and Russ Garside (103rd, 4th round, 1989, San Diego Padres).

Balcom-Miller was drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 35th round last year but chose to stay on at West Valley College this year, where he wound up with first-team All-Northern California and Coast Golden Gate Conference Pitcher of the Year honors after striking out 106 batters in 83 innings pitched.

He pitched for Douglas as a sophomore in 2005, where he helped lead the Tigers to the Sierra League championship.He finished his high school career at Leigh High School in California and signed with West Valley from there.

Balcom-Miller was the second player with Nevada ties to be taken in this year's draft. Bishop Gorman's Jeff Malm went in the fifth round to Tampa Bay with the 169th pick of the draft.

Douglas saw Malm twice this year, once during a mid-season tournament and once during the state tournament.

Another Tiger opponent from this year was taken in the sixth round as well. Pitcher Steven Inch of Canada's Vauxhall Baseball Academy was taken with the 197th pick of the draft by the Phillies. Douglas beat Vauxhall in the final game of the Gorman Easter Classic this year.