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Rays' first-round picks
Which player will have the best major league career?
Delmon Young
B.J. Upton
Rocco Baldelli
Wade Townsend
Jeff Niemann
David Price
Evan Longoria

Price signing announcement

This from the Associated Press:

BOSTON — Top pick David Price and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays agreed to an $11.25 million, six-year contract Wednesday, hours before the midnight deadline for teams to lock up their draft selections.

Price, a hard-throwing lefty out of Vanderbilt, gets a $5.6 million signing bonus and is guaranteed $8.5 million as part of the deal.

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Rays pick another pitcher in Round 2

The Rays opened the second round by picking Ole Miss RHP William Kline. Kline pitched sparingly his first two seasons with the Rebels because of Tommy John surgery he underwent before his senior year of high school. But Kline was one of the Rebels aces his senior season, when he went 7-2 with a 3.43 ERA and 127 strikeouts (which ranks him second all-time at Ole Miss).

Scouting report on the Mississippi native is that he's got a decent three-pitch repertoire (fastball, changeup and slider) with a bulldog mentality

-- JOE SMITH

Price: 'One of the best days of my life'

The Devil Rays made Vanderbilt LHP David Price the top pick of Thursday's draft. The selection was announced by commissioner Bud Selig at Disney.

"We think this guy has all the ability to be a front of the rotation major-league type pitcher,'' scouting director R.J. Harrison said. "Now it's jusy a matter of getting him signed, getting him in uniform, getting him along in that development process.''

Price, at a family gathering in Nashville, smiled and looked relieved on the ESPN broadcast, donning a Rays cap and jersey.

"My emotions are obviously running really high right now,'' Price said. "It's one of the best days of my life so I'm going to cherish it.''

As for going to the Rays, Price said: "It's a great feeling. They have a good team already with a bunch of veteran leaders and a bunch of young players out there already.'' He said it would be "an honor" to eventually join the Rays.

Price, 21, went 11-1, 2.63 for the Commodores, striking out a national high 194 in 133 1/3 innings in his junior season. In three seasons, he was 22-10, 3.10 with a school-record 441 strikeouts.

Contract negotiations will begin Friday, the Rays said.

"It's difficult to project how long that will take,'' Rays executive VP Andrew Friedman said. "We hope to resolve this as quickly as possible.''

Rays take Vanderbilt's Price

The Devil Rays made Vanderbilt left-hander David Price the top pick of baseball's annual first-year player draft Thursday afternoon in Orlando.

Price, 21, finished his junior season 11-1, 2.63 with a school-record 194 strikeouts (and only 31 walks) in 1331/3 innings, allowing a .199 average.

His best pitch is a 95 mph fastball, and he has a nasty slider he can throw at any point in a count. The 6-foot-5, 215-pounder's changeup isn't as refined as he didn't need it much against overmatched college hitters.

The Rays' only concern could be Price's workload; he averaged 121 pitches in 11 conference starts, went as high as 137 and threw 130 Friday and came back to throw 14 more Monday in his first relief appearance of the season, giving up the game-winning, thus season-ending, home run.

Contract talks are likely to begin Friday, and the only deadline is MLB's new Aug. 15 cutoff.