David Dahl (baseball)

Amateur career

Dahl attended Oak Mountain High School in Birmingham, Alabama, where he made the varsity baseball team as a freshman shortstop. In 2011, he was selected for the United States 18-and-under national baseball team and played in the Pan American Games, recording 11 RBIs in 15 games as the United States won the gold medal. During his senior season in 2012, Dahl batted .412 with 34 RBIs and 18 stolen bases as an outfielder, and committed to play college baseball for the Auburn Tigers.

Professional career

The Colorado Rockies selected Dahl with the tenth overall pick in the first round of the 2012 MLB draft, and he signed for a $2.6 million signing bonus, forgoing his commitment to Auburn. He debuted professionally for the Grand Junction Rockies of the Rookie-level Pioneer League, hitting .379/.423/.625 with nine home runs and 57 RBIs, earning the league's most valuable player award. Before the 2013 season, Baseball America ranked him the Rockies' second best prospect, and MLB.com ranked him the 58th best prospect in baseball.

He was suspended at the start of the season for missing a team flight, played ten games for the Asheville Tourists of the Single-A South Atlantic League, then missed the rest of the season with a torn hamstring. In 2014, he played for Asheville and the Modesto Nuts of the High-A California League, batting .299 with 14 home runs and 21 stolen bases. On May 28, 2015, while with the New Britain Rock Cats of the Double-A Eastern League, Dahl collided with a teammate chasing a fly ball and suffered a spleen laceration.

After surgery, he opted to have his spleen removed to shorten recovery time to four to six weeks, rather than miss the remainder of the season. He resumed playing in July after a six-game rehabilitation stint with the Boise Hawks of the Low-A Northwest League, then returned to New Britain, finishing the season with a .278 batting average, six home runs, and 22 stolen bases.