MLB Draft 2011: Tampa Bay Rays Look Bright After First Day

Scouting head-man R.J. Harrison and Andrew Friedman must've been licking their chops.

With all the picks the Tampa Bay Rays had in last night's opening round of the MLB first-year player draft, they still had to wait till the 24th pick to choose their first player of the evening.

Taylor Guerrieri may have been doing the same thing Harrison and Friedman were doing, having projected as a top-10 prospect by Baseball America, just to drop past the first 23 picks. But his time came.

And luckily enough for the Rays, it was with them. While they never had a chance at Alonso High School's Jose Fernandez, the local boy, they got someone just as good, if not better in some areas.

The 6'3", 195-pound right-hander has an average fastball clocked around the 94 to 95 MPH range, and has touched 98 miles per hour in a few instances.

His power curve may be one of the top two or three out of all high school pitchers that will be drafted this year, with a chance to be the best of the bunch when he progresses.

That last word is huge in this case, more so than in other prospects. Guerrieri is solid now, but he has one of the highest-ceilings in the draft, in terms of talent, so progression over time will be huge.

"Clearly, best player on the board," said MLB Network's John Hart, following the selection. The crew on the network did raise some concerns about Guerrieri, but the bit of risk seems worth the reward in this case.

There were quite a few other picks for the Rays last night. Nine more, to be exact. With two more selections in the first round, Tampa Bay chose Mikie Mahtook and Jake Hager.

Mahtook, LSU outfielder, son and nephew of former LSU football players, was taken 31st overall by the Rays. The filled-out 6'1", 200-pound Mahtook hit .383 with 14 home runs this season while playing in the SEC, and having to use the new BBCOR bats, which lessen the pop on contact.

It didn't seem to hurt Mahtook much at all, and nothing was hurting him on the base paths either, where he stole 29 times.

Overall, the Rays should be just as excited about the value that they got at the 31st pick as they did with their first one at No. 24.

With Hager, the Rays went their traditional way, with a five-tool, supremely-athletic player, who has very high potential. Hager was drafted as a shortstop

To kick off the compensation round, the Rays took yet another shortstop in Brandon Martin. Martin, like Hager and Guerrieri, was picked straight out of high school, showing that the Rays still like going that route.

Tyler Goeddel was selected next by Tampa Bay, another shortstop, but Goeddel will most likely project better in the outfield or at third base.

The Rays continued their draft by adding a pair of outfielders and a pair of left-handed pitchers, one of them Grayson Garvin, the 6'6" SEC pitcher of the year out of Vanderbilt.

Kes Carter, the .434-hitting lefty at Western Kentucky, and James Harris Jr., who goes to the same high school Rickie Henderson did (and models himself after him), were the two outfielders chosen.

Then there's Blake Snell, the other lefty grabbed by the Rays, another high schooler. Striking out 128 batters in just 63 innings will get you drafted pretty high, and there was no exception here.

The Rays have began to hit up the state of Washington for prospects the past couple of years, and Snell and 42nd overall pick Jeff Ames add to the list. Ames was the lone college player taken out of the state Monday, while Snell was the lone high school player.

Overall, there are no complaints after day one. The Rays stuck to their draft plan, and while people may not realize it, it was a better-than-solid night for the Rays to open the 2011 draft.