Blue Jays seeking best available picks in draft

This week's Major League Baseball draft of high schoolers and collegians is said to be pitching-heavy among the latter, and college pitching has done the Toronto Blue Jays well, so … just don't expect them to take the next Ricky Romero in Round 1.

General manager J.P. Ricciardi, who has favoured the college route since he was hired prior to the 2002 season, might simply aim for the best player available with the 20th overall selection on Tuesday.

"We're trying to look at the big picture," he told MLB.com recently. "We've got five of the top 104 [picks] so that's pretty good. We've just got to try to maximize it."

Romero, who has pitched to mixed results with the Blue Jays in this his rookie season, was drafted sixth overall out of Cal State Fullerton University in 2005.

Since then, Toronto has varied its first-round picks by selecting an outfielder (Travis Snider), third baseman (Kevin Ahrens), catcher (J.P. Arencibia) and first baseman (David Cooper).

The Blue Jays have five selections, including two compensatory picks — within the first three rounds of the 2009 draft — to be held for the first time in prime time at 6 p.m. ET in Secaucus, N.J.

"If you look at us, whether we've been lucky or whether we've been fortunate," Ricciardi said, "college pitching has done well for us [Brett Cecil in 2007, Romero]. It's gotten here quick and it's allowed us to sustain, losing what we lost."

That said, the Blue Jays could opt for University of Kentucky left-hander James Paxton, who was born in Richmond, B.C. But he is represented by the well-known Scott Boras, who has been known to make life difficult for teams by dragging out contract negotiations.

This season, the 20-year-old Paxton posted a 5-3 record and 5.86 earned-run average, allowing 20 walks while striking out 115 in 78 1/3 innings.

If not Paxton, other pitching options for Ricciardi include Drew Storen (Stanford University) or fellow right-hander Chad Jenkins (Kennesaw State).

"Our [minor league] system is in pretty good shape," said Ricciardi. "You can never have enough pitching, so we'd like to add pitching any way we could."

Catcher Tony Sanchez (Boston College) or outfielders Tim Wheeler (Sacramento State) and A.J. Pollock (Notre Dame) are collegiate position players who could be available to the Blue Jays at No. 20.

The Washington Nationals have the No. 1 overall pick and will likely choose San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg, whose agent is Boras.

Strasburg's repertoire includes a fastball that tops out at 103 m.p.h. and an extremely sharp breaking ball.

The 2008 U.S. Olympian made headlines this spring by tossing a no-hitter in his final college start at home.

The MLB draft continues Wednesday at noon ET with Rounds 4-30, followed by Rounds 31-50 on Thursday at 11:30 a.m. ET.