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Roger Mooney

Roger Mooney covers the Tampa Bay Rays for The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. He has covered the Rays since their first season in 1998, including 11 years for the Bradenton Herald. Roger has also covered Florida, South Florida and Florida State football, the Bucs and the Lightning.

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Rays go for upside in draft, take three highly rated H.S. players

Posted Jun 7, 2010 by Tribune Sports

Updated Jun 8, 2010 at 12:34 AM

By TONY FABRIZIO

ST. PETERSBURG—The Rays vowed they would take the best players available when their selections came up in the first-year players draft Monday night. As it turned out, they wound up with three highly rated high school players.

Owning two-first round picks for the first time in franchise history, but picking lower than 10th for only the second time since 1998, the Rays took outfielder Josh Sale of Bishop Blanchet High n Seattle at No. 17 and catcher Justin O’Conner of Cowan High in Muncie, Ind., at No. 31.

With the 42nd selection, the club added outfielder Drew Vettleson of Central Kitsap High in Washington.

“We were very well prepared, and depending on what fell to us, we were very comfortable with what was in front of us,” said Rays executive vice president for baseball Andrew Friedman. “And we feel like we added three really good, young position players to our minor league system.”

Sale, O’Conner and Vettleson have committed to Gonzaga, Arkansas and Oregon State, respectively, but Friedman said the Rays have an agreement in principal on a contract with O’Conner.

“So we’re excited to get him out and get him playing soon,” Friedman said. “And hopefully, with the other two, we’ll be able to get something done quickly and get them out playing.”

The Rays had an extra selection in the first round, the pick used on O’Conner, because they did not sign their top pick last year, LeVon Washington, and infielder/outfielder out of Gainesville Buchholz High.

The 42nd second pick was compensation for losing veteran catcher Gregg Zaun in free agency after last season.

Sale (pronounced SAH-lay), 18, hit .520 his senior year with five home runs, six doubles, 20 RBIs and 27 walks. He was rated by Baseball America as the best high school corner outfielder and power hitter and No. 10 prospect overall, but the publication’s scouting report said Sale “isn’t a great fielder.”

Because of his average speed, there’s speculation he could play first base or catch.

Rays scouting director R.J. Harrison conceded that Sale’s defensive upside doesn’t match his offensive prowess.

“I think he’s going to be an average defensive player,” Harrison said. “Look, he’s not a gazelle, He’s a power bat, and he’s going to be fine because of his work ethic and everything like that.”

Sale was the top-rated player out of the state of Washington and is the highest drafted player out of that state since Tim Lincecum (No. 10, Giants) and Travis Snider (No. 14, Blue Jays) in 2006.

About his commitment to Gonzaga, Sale said he doesn’t have a “definite answer,” but doesn’t see himself going to college.

“Right now I’m just thankful for the Tampa Bay Rays investing in me, and I’m extremely happy that they did,” he said. “It’s been a non-stop celebration. College versus pro, it’s a different world.”

O’Conner, 18, hit .470 as a senior with eight home runs, 40 RBIs, 15 stolen bases, 13 doubles and 43 runs scored. He was ranked by Baseball America the No. 1 high school catcher in the draft, the No. 3 catcher overall behind top pick Bryce Harper and Yasmani Grandal and the No. 24 prospect in the draft.

“O’Conner is essentially a high school shortstop who started catching this year,” Harrison said. “So what you have is a kid who has a plus arm, plus raw power, and we think he’s going to be able to make that transition to catcher. In the games we saw this spring, we were encouraged by it. We don’t think it’s going to be a tough transition for him, and he’s a kid who wants to catch.”

O’Conner began catching last summer and caught regularly this spring after playing shortstop, third base and pitcher earlier in his career. As a junior, he was named an AFLAC All-American and won the metal-bat home run derby at the Perfect Game National Showcase in Minneapolis.

Vettleson is ambidextrous – he has pitched with both arms – although he bats left-handed. He was rated by Baseball America as the best pure hitter among high schoolers in the draft. He hit .490 as a senior with seven home runs, 29 RBIs, four doubles and four triples.

As a switch-pitcher his junior year, he went 4-2 with a 1.60 ERA and threw two no-hitters. He has committed to play at Oregon State.

“He’s one of those kids that, in every event we’ve gone to, you walk away and you go, ‘boy, that guy can really hit,’ ” Harrison said.

“Like an old scout told me one time… I said, ‘what are you looking for in a hitter, and he said, ‘hitters hit.’ This guy is one of those guys.”

The Rays still have three selections remaining among the top 100 – at Nos. 66, 79 and 98.