Draft Day is Upon Us

Here's some information going into the 2009 draft, which begins this afternoon:

MAJOR LEAGUE DRAFT
The three-day “first-year player” draft begins today at 3 p.m. The first three rounds are to be conducted today, rounds 4-30 tomorrow and rounds 31-50 (teams may stop earlier if the y wish) on Thursday.
Players from the United States, U.S. territories and Canada are subject to the draft. Eligible for selection are high school seniors, junior college players, juniors and seniors at four-year colleges and players who have turned 21. Teams have until Aug. 15 to sign players before losing their draft rights.

DRAFT COVERAGE
— The MLB Network will televise the first round, which also will be simulcast live at mlb.com. After the first 32 picks, coverage will switch to MLB.com/Live.
— Pick-by-pick coverage is available at mlb.com as well as XM Satellite Radio.
— Another good source of draft info and analysis is at baseballamerica.com

DRAFT ORDER
1. Washington
2. Seattle
3. San Diego
4. Pittsburgh
5. Baltimore
6. San Francisco
7. Atlanta
8. Cincinnati
9. Detroit
10. Washington
11. Colorado
12. Kansas City
13. Oakland
14. Texas
15. Cleveland
16. Arizona
17. Arizona
18. Florida
19. St. Louis
20. Toronto
21. Houston
22. Minnesota
23. Chi. White Sox
24. L.A. Angels
25. L.A. Angels
26. Milwaukee
27. Seattle
28. Boston
29. N.Y. Yankees
30. Tampa Bay
31. Chi. Cubs
32. Colorado

Note: Five first-round picks were re-assigned to teams that lost Class A free agents (No .17 to ARI from LAD for Orlando Hudson; No. 24 to LAA from NYM for Francisco Rodriguez; No. 25 to LAA from NYY for Mark Teixeira; No. 27 to SEA from PHI for Raul Ibanez; No. 32 COL from LAA for Brian Fuentes).
Washington and the Yankees received extra first-round picks for failing to sign last year’s No. 1 draft choices.

TOP LOCAL PROSPECTS
COLLEGE
Buck Afenir, Sr., C, Kansas (Escondido)
Andrew Bovich, LHP, PLNU
Gavin Brooks, Jr., LHP, UCLA, RB Vista
Erik Castro, Jr, C/3B, SDSU (Fallbrook)
Casey Edelbrock, Soph., RHP, Palomar CC (Poway)
A.J. Griffin, Jr., RHP, USD (Grossmont)
Tyler Lavigne, Jr., RHP, SDSU
Mike Leake, Jr., RHP, Arizona St. (Fallbrook)
James Meador, Jr, OF, USD (Ramona)
Sean Nicol, Sr., SS, USD
Shawn Sanford, Soph., LHP, Palomar CC (Fallbrook)
Sequoiah Stonecipher, Soph., OF, Grossmont CC (Mission Bay)
Stephen Strasburg, Jr., RHP, SDSU (West Hills)
Matt Thomson, Jr., RHP, USD
Ryan Wiegand, Sr., 1B, Gonzaga (USDHS)

HIGH SCHOOL
Andrew Bellatti, RHP, Steele Canyon
Justin Bellez, RHP, Mira Mesa
Bryan Crabb, RHP, Coronado
James Dykstra, RHP, Rancho Bernardo
Tyler Gaffney, OF, Cathedral Catholic
Garret Hughes, LHP, La Costa Canyon
Matt Moynihan, OF, Cathedral Catholic
Alex Muren, RHP, Ramona
James Needy, RHP, Santana
Ryan Wilkins, RHP, Cathedral Catholic

DRAFT TIDBITS
— The draft was instituted in 1965. The Kansas City Athletics chose Arizona State outfielder Rick Monday with the first pick. One of the motivating factors for the draft was to get a handle on signing bonuses. The Angels signed Wisconsin outfielder Rick Reichardt for a record $205,000 in 1964. Monday signed with the A’s a year later for $104,000. It was 1979 before a drafted player surpassed the bonus given to Reichardt.

— Each team will have at least one representative at the draft. Among them will be Hall of Famers Al Kaline for Detroit, Bill Mazeroski for Pittsburgh and Billy Williams for the Cubs. The representatives this year for the Padres are Woody Williams and Jimmy Jones, who was the franchise’s first-round pick in 1982.

— There have been 21 Hall of Famers come through the draft. Cincinnati catcher Johnny Bench, the Reds’ second-round pick in 1965, was the first to make it in 1989. Seven of the 21 were first-round picks — Reggie Jackson, Robin Yount, Carlton Fisk, Dave Winfield, Kirby Puckett, Paul Molitor and Jim Rice. Ryne Sandberg, taken in the 20th round by Philadelphia in 1978, was the lowest drafted player to make it.

— There are currently 12 players in the majors who were selected with the first overall pick — Tampa Bay’s David Price (Rays, 2007); Arizona’s Justin Upton (Diamondbacks, 2005); Minnesota’s Delmon Young (Rays, 2003); Minnesota’s Joe Mauer (Twins, 2001); Padres’ Adrian Gonzalez (Marlins, 2000); Texas’ Josh Hamilton (Rays, 1999); Tampa Bay’s Pat Burrell (Phillies, 1998); Texas’ Kris Benson (Pirates, 1996); Houston’s Darin Erstad (Angels, 1995); the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez (Mariners, 1993); Atlanta’s Chipper Jones (Braves, 1990); Seattle’s Ken Griffey Jr. (Mariners, 1987).

— According to MLB data, there were 616 players (out of 750) on Open Day rosters who came through the draft. Of those, 218 (35.6 percent) were still members of the club that selected them. That does not include six players who are back with their original clubs after playing elsewhere.
Of those 616 players, 142 were first-round picks. Only 25 of them were players selected after the 30th round. The lowest pick was Tampa Bay’s Gabe Kapler, a 57th round selection by Detroit in 1995.

BY THE NUMBERS

55,846 — Total players drafted since 1965.

18,712 —Right-handed pitchers drafted, or 33.5 percent of all payers drafted. Second-most is outfielders (10,160).

1,504 — Players drafted last season. Of those, 968 (64.36 percent) signed. Eight-two percent of college players signed, but only 17 percent of high school players signed. A draft-record 70 percent signed in 1985.