Rays considering 5 prospects for No. 1 pick

Baseball Betting Lines

06/05/2008 -

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) -The Tampa Bay Rays are feeling pressure to make the right call in the baseball draft.

Although they aren't looking for immediate help from the player they select No. 1 on Thursday, there's an added sense of urgency to make the most of an opportunity they don't expect to have again soon.

The Rays never won more than 70 games in a season during their first 10 years, but have been one of the feel-good stories of this season.

The young, talented team has led the AL East for much of the first two months and intends to keep getting better.

``In our minds and in our planning, hopefully this is the last time we're picking this high for a while, so we put a little more pressure on ourselves to add another impact player before hopefully we start picking in the 20s,'' Rays executive vice president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said.

Tampa Bay also had the No. 1 pick a year ago, selecting David Price, a pitcher from Vanderbilt that the Rays had targeted for months. The hard-throwing lefty got off to a great start as a pro - he's opened with 18 scoreless innings for Class-A Vero Beach.

There's no consensus best player this summer, so the Rays are considering five prospects for the top spot:

-Tim Beckham, a high school shortstop from Griffin, Ga., who's viewed as one of the best pure athletes in the draft.

-Buster Posey, one of the nation's top defensive catchers at Florida State.

-Brian Matusz, a big college lefty who led the country in strikeouts at San Diego.

-Pedro Alvarez, superb hitting third baseman from Vanderbilt.

-Kyle Skipworth, of Rubidoux, Calif., the top-rated high school catcher and possibly the best prep prospect at the position since Joe Mauer was the No. 1 pick seven years ago.

``Last year, we had a pretty good idea who we were taking in the fall. It was just a matter of something weird not happening to him,'' director of scouting R.J. Harrison said. ``This group is pretty even. I could make a case for any one of those five guys.''

The Pittsburgh Pirates have the second pick, with Kansas City, Baltimore, San Francisco, Florida, Cincinnati, the Chicago White Sox, Washington and Houston rounding out the top 10.

This is the fourth time the Rays have had the No. 1 selection. They picked high school outfielders Josh Hamilton in 1999 and Delmon Young in 2003 before using last year's top choice on Price.

Friedman said the club was not focusing on any particular position, noting that needs of an organization can change very quickly.

``To sit here right now and tell you this is going to be the needs of this organization in two years, I think is extremely difficult to do,'' Friedman said.

The Rays, he said, don't have a hard and fast rule when it comes to selecting college prospects rather than high school players.

``You never want to take someone with the idea that you would trade them. But if you take the best player available, either something opens up on your major league team or you can go out there and make a move to add someone somewhere else. It really just gets back to taking the most talented player that you feel fits your team.''

Beckham is considered a legitimate five-tool player. Skipworth, the other prep prospect among the options the Rays are pondering, is an outstanding hitter who Harrison feels has chance to develop a ``middle of the lineup'' bat.

Posey is a versatile player who began his college career as a shortstop. He switched to catcher as a sophomore and entered this week's NCAA super regionals batting a Division I-best .468.

Matusz was 12-2 with a 1.71 ERA this season for San Diego. Vandy's Alvarez hit .317 with nine homers and 30 RBIs despite missing 23 games with a broken right hand.

Harrison said any of them would be a fine addition to the Rays.

``I have spent time with all five of them, and our staff has spent a lot of time with them. They're all top-notch kids, you would be proud to have any of them,'' the director of scouting said. ``We aren't going to get this shot any more, this pick of the litter, so we are trying to make a decision to get the best player, best guy combination.''

Others who could be drafted early include Georgia shortstop Gordon Beckham (no relation to Tim), Tulane pitcher Shooter Hunt, South Carolina first baseman Justin Smoak, Missouri pitcher Aaron Crow and Florida high school first baseman Eric Hosmer.Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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