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Rays get new draft experience

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By MARC LANCASTER

mlancaster@tampatrib.com

Published: June 4, 2009

ST. PETERSBURG - Less than a week before they'll make their first selection in this year's amateur draft, the Rays have no idea who will be available to them, nor what they will do with the pick.

That's what happens when your first selection is way down at No. 30, far below the top-five slots the Rays have become accustomed to in their history. The need to wait around for almost every other big-league team to make a pick before they get their first crack at the board sometime around 8 p.m. Tuesday will be a new wrinkle for the Rays, who held the first overall pick each of the last two seasons.

"Especially the last two years, we controlled the process completely," executive vice president Andrew Friedman said. "Being in a position where we're dependent on 29 picks in front of us, it certainly changes things."

Scouting director R.J. Harrison said Wednesday he has a set of about 15-20 players in mind who might be available when the Rays come up, but even that wide net might not cover all the possibilities.

"I think it's a more unpredictable draft than probably any I've been involved with," said Harrison, who has worked in one scouting capacity or another for the Rays since 1995.

The Rays like the depth in this year's talent pool and believe they'll still be able to get a player they really like at No. 30 - even if it isn't necessarily a player everyone likes, as has been the case in the recent past with Tim Beckham, David Price and Evan Longoria.

In fact, Harrison said he didn't personally scout the player everyone is certain the Washington Nationals will take with the first overall selection this year, San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg, simply because he could better spend his time evaluating players who might actually be available when the Rays pick.

And he's as anxious as anyone to see who will actually fit the criteria when the Rays are on the clock Tuesday.

"It's only difficult because you have to keep waiting," Harrison said. "You stack 'em up and you line 'em up and you pick when your turn comes up. I hope we're picking down there every year, because that means we're doing something right. When the varsity wins, everybody's happy."

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