Blue Jays draft high schooler

In a perfect world, Travis Snider would join Vernon Wells and Alex Rios in the Blue Jays outfield sometime in the next decade.

Toronto selected the six-foot-one, 220-pounder with the 14th overall pick in the annual June draft of high schoolers and collegians on Tuesday.

Snider is considered the second- or third-best high school position player in the two-day, 50-round draft.

He led Jackson High School to a 25-0 record this season — racking up 11 home runs and 39 runs batted in with a .538 average — and has signed a letter of intent to attend Arizona State University.

"He's a big, strong kid," Blue Jays scouting director Jon Lalonde said of Snider on a conference call. "We think he's going to have a lot of power when all is said and done."

Snider, a left-handed hitter, becomes the first high school player taken by Blue Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi since he joined the team for the 2001 season.

Toronto used its first-round pick on high school outfielder Miguel Negron in 2000, but he's no longer in the organization.

Last year, the Jays selected Cal State University pitcher Ricky Romero sixth overall. The left-hander is currently playing for the team's single-A affiliate in Dunedin, Fla.

"In looking at the crop of players available in this draft, we really were not sold on the talent at the college level in terms of players available when the 14th pick rolled around," said Lalonde. "That was a big part of it.

"The second part of it is we feel our system is reaching a point where we have enough quality young players that have reached the higher levels, that we could afford to take a younger player that will take a little longer to develop."

Ace pitcher Roy Halladay (1995) along with Wells (1997) and Rios (1999) are current Blue Jays who were drafted out of high school.

Snider is said to havean excellent approach to hitting and has been compared to veteran outfielder Brian Giles of the San Diego Padres.

According to mlb.com, he has the chance to be a prototypical corner outfielder or first baseman, in terms of power, though there are questions about Snider's defensive play.

Snider is probably ticketed for Pulaski in the rookie league after he signs a contract with Toronto, something Lalonde doesn't believe will be a problem.

"We've gotten to know Travis as well as any player since I've been associated with the department," he said, "so we're comfortable with Travis, comfortable that we'll be able to get something worked out and we'll have to get to work on that shortly."

The Blue Jays lost their second- and third-round picks for signing free-agent pitchers A.J. Burnett and B.J. Ryan last winter.

The Kansas City Royals had the No. 1 overall pick Tuesday and chose right-handed pitcher Luke Hochevar, who reportedly agreed to a pre-draft contract on Monday night.

A first-round pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2005, Hochevar didn't sign with the National League club and re-entered the draft.

Victoria's Kyle Orr was the first Canadian taken in the draft, going to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the fourth round.