SECAUCUS, N.J. — This time, the Houston Astros couldn’t resist drafting Mark Appel with the No. 1 pick.
SECAUCUS, N.J. — This time, the Houston Astros couldn’t resist drafting Mark Appel with the No. 1 pick.
Houston selected the hard-throwing Stanford pitcher with the top choice in the Major League Baseball draft Thursday night, a year after passing on the hometown kid and instead choosing 17-year-old shortstop Carlos Correa from Puerto Rico.
“For us, we felt like it was the best move,” Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said in an interview on MLB Network. “Last year was a different circumstance.”
Appel, who grew up in Houston before moving to California when he was 12, slid to Pittsburgh at No. 8 but turned down a $3.8 million offer and returned to Stanford for his senior season. The move paid off.
After going 10-4 with a 2.12 ERA and 130 strikeouts in 106 1/3 innings this season for the Cardinal, the 6-foot-4, 195-pound Appel is expected to fetch about $2 million more than he passed on with the Pirates.
“This is just a surreal moment for me and my family,” said Appel, who complements his mid-90s fastball with a nasty slider and improving changeup. “Just knowing that I’m going back home is a real honor.”
The deadline for teams to sign draft picks is July 12, but that doesn’t apply to Appel because he is a college senior.
“I’m very confident that Mark Appel is going to put on an Astros uniform. He’s from here. He wants to play here. He’s been selected first in the draft. All the indicators are pointing in the same direction, so I assume it will be a fairly straightforward discussion and that he’ll sign sometime this summer,” Luhnow said.
“I talked to him and told him: ‘Welcome home.’ It’s a kid’s dream to go first in the country, first in the draft and to be taken by your hometown team. It just doesn’t get any better than that. It’s also really a great opportunity for us.”
The draft, which is held over three days and 40 rounds, started Thursday night with the first two rounds at MLB Network Studios.
For the second straight season, the first pick was uncertain going into the draft, with Oklahoma right-hander Jonathan Gray and a pair of college third basemen — North Carolina’s Colin Moran and San Diego’s Kris Bryant — thought to be in the mix for Houston.
It was the fourth time the Astros had the No. 1 pick, and they joined Tampa Bay (2007-08) and Washington (2009-10) as teams to have the top selection in consecutive years. The draft order is determined by reverse finish — worst to best — in the overall standings from last season.
With the No. 2 pick, the Chicago Cubs selected Bryant, who led Division I college players with 31 home runs this season. The 6-foot-5, 210-pound junior is a Golden Spikes finalist and Collegiate Baseball magazine’s national player of year. He leads the nation with 66 walks, 80 runs scored and an .820 slugging percentage.
Gray went third overall to the Colorado Rockies. The 6-foot-4, 245-pound flamethrower helped pitched the Sooners into the super regionals of the NCAA tournament, going 10-2 with a 1.59 ERA and 138 strikeouts in 119 innings. He throws a fastball in the mid- to upper-90s, reaching 100 mph at times with an effortless delivery.
Colorado apparently was not scared off by published reports that cited unidentified sources who said Gray tested positive for the medication Adderall during baseball’s predraft drug testing program.
The first high school player picked was pitcher Kohl Stewart, who went to the Minnesota Twins at No. 4. A right-hander from Tomball, Texas, Stewart has signed to play baseball and football at Texas A&M — where he would likely be a backup to Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel at quarterback.
The Cleveland Indians followed by grabbing Clint Frazier, a high school outfielder from Georgia who was in the building to hear his name called by Commissioner Bud Selig.
Of the nine prospects in attendance, Frazier was the first to be selected. The second came when the New York Mets chose sweet-swinging California high school first baseman Dominic Smith at No. 11.
North Carolina third baseman Colin Moran, the nephew of former big league All-Star B.J. Surhoff — the No. 1 overall pick in 1985 by Milwaukee — went sixth overall to the Miami Marlins. Moran was the ACC player of the year and a Golden Spikes Award finalist. He led the offense for the NCAA tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. He’s hitting .348 with 13 home runs and 86 RBIs heading into the super regionals.
Boston, picking as high as seventh for the first time since drafting Trot Nixon in the same spot in 1993, took Indiana high school lefty Trey Ball. He was an outstanding pitcher and hitter in high school, but considered by most scouts to have greater potential on the mound at the pro level. Ball was announced as a pitcher.
Stephen F. Austin slugging shortstop Hunter Dozier was the No. 8 overall pick by Kansas City.
Pittsburgh, with the No. 9 pick it got as compensation for not signing Appel last year, selected Georgia high school outfielder Austin Meadows. He grew up playing travel ball with Frazier, but the two went to different high schools a few miles apart in the same town of Loganville. Scouts salivated over both Meadows and Frazier, who were labeled the top two high school position players in the draft.
Rounding out the top 10 picks, Toronto chose hard-throwing California high school right-hander Phil Bickford.