Jays take strikeout pitcher with top pick
The Toronto Blue Jays selected power pitcher Ricky Romero Tuesday with their first pick in the 2005 Major League Baseball entry draft.
The Jays took Romero with the sixth overall pick at the annual June draft for high schoolers and collegians. It's the best draft position the Jays have had since 1997, when they took Vernon Wells fifth overall.
Romero, who attends Cal State University at Fullerton, is 12-5 with a 2.95 earned-run average this season. In 125 innings, he has walked only 33 batters while striking out 132.
Blessed with a 94 m.p.h. fastball and an above-average curveball, Romero has limited opposing batters to 99 hits this season. Some scouts believe the 20-year-old could eventually develop into an ace.
"I love competing, I love getting the ball in big games and I have no pressure going into games," said Romero. "I have a lot of confidence that I can get the job done. That's just the type of competitor I've been."
Cal State Fullerton is still in the hunt for the college World Series and Romero is a candidate for the Brooks Wallace Award, given to the top college player in the United States.
"He's a winner," said Jays director of scouting Jon Lalonde. "In addition to all his physical abilities, what we liked was his competitive makeup."
It marks the second straight draft the Jays have targeted pitching. Last year, Toronto selected David Purcey and Zach Jackson with their first two picks.
"We figured we would lean more toward the pitching," explained Jays general manager J.P. Ricciardi said. "For us to go out on the free agent market and try to get pitching, it's something that's always overpriced. The more pitching we can develop the better off we're going to be."
The Arizona Diamondbacks had the first pick in the draft. As expected, the Diamondbacks selected high school standout shortstop Justin Upton.
Upton stars for Great Bridge High School in Chesapeake, Va. His brother B.J. Upton is a highly-touted prospect in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays farm system.
The Devil Rays selected B.J. Upton second overall in 2002. By taking Justin Upton, the Diamondbacks made the duo the highest brother tandem selected in the history of the draft.
Current Detroit Tiger Dmitri Young was the fourth-overall choice by the St. Louis Cardinals in 1991 and his brother, Delmon, was chosen first by Tampa Bay in 2003.
The Kansas City Royals selected college third baseman Alex Gordon with second-overall pick. Jeff Clement, a left-handed hitting catcher from the University of Southern California, was selected third by the Seattle Mariners.
The Jays lost their second-round pick, 54th overall, to the Minnesota Twins as compensation for signing free agent Corey Koskie of Anola, Man. That meant the Jays didn't have another pick until the third round, when they took University of Mississippi outfielder Brian Pettway with 86th pick.
Chris Robinson of Dorchester, Ont., was the first Canadian taken in the draft. Robinson, who plays catcher for the University of Illinois, was taken in the third round, 92nd overall, by the Detroit Tigers. The Cleveland Indians selected first baseman Nick Weglarz of Stevensville, Ont., 94th overall.
The inaugural baseball draft was held in New York in 1965. The selection rotation is determined by the clubs' reverse order of finish at the end of the previous season.
This year's draft will finish after all 30 teams have passed on a selection or after the final selection in the 50th round, whichever comes first. The draft will be completed late Wednesday.
Former number one picks include current major leaguers B.J. Surhoff (1985), Ken Griffey, Jr. (1987), Chipper Jones (1990), Alex Rodriguez (1993), Paul Wilson (1994), Darin Erstad (1995), Kris Benson (1996), Pat Burrell (1998) and Joe Mauer (2001).