Munson, Zito Make the Top 10 List

Catcher Eric Munson was taken third overall in the baseball draft Wednesday, and pitcher Barry Zito went ninth as a USC team still focusing on the present became a major part of the future for a couple major league clubs.

Munson was chose by the Detroit Tigers, as expected, as the first college player chosen in the 22-round process. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays picked high school outfielder Josh Hamilton from Raleigh, N.C., first and the Florida Marlins used the No. 2 choice on high school pitcher Josh Beckett from Spring, Texas. Hamilton is the first high school player to go No. 1 since Alex Rodriguez in 1993.

Zito was a surprise. Hoping to be a first-round choice, and aware that the second round was a possibility, he instead broke the top 10 with the Oakland A’s. Later in the day, the A’s took another member of the USC staff, senior Justin Lehr, in the eighth round.

Munson and Zito, both juniors, were the headliners as seven Trojans were selected two days before they open the best-of-three super regional against Stanford, with a trip to the College World Series at stake. The others were sophomore pitcher Steve Smyth (Cubs, fourth round), senior outfielder Jason Lane (Astros, sixth round), Lehr, senior outfielder Brad Ticehurst (Yankees, 10th round) and senior second basemen-pitcher Dominic Correa (Yankees, 18th round).

When Ryan Christianson from Arlington High in Riverside went to the Seattle Mariners two picks after Oakland took Zito, three of the first 11 choices had Los Angeles-area ties, although Munson is from San Diego and Zito is from El Cajon. Christianson, the first high school catcher taken, has signed with UCLA.

Neither local pro team had a first-round choice. The Angels forfeited theirs for signing Mo Vaughn, and the Dodgers lost theirs as part of the compensation for signing Kevin Brown.

For Munson, Wednesday contrasted with the draft-day emotions of three years ago, the disappointment of falling out of the first round before going to the Atlanta Braves in the second and ultimately deciding to attend USC. Even after beginning the season with the pressure and expectations of being a high pick and then missing 21 games because of a broken right hand, he was the third pick.

“I’m relieved a little bit,” he said. “But I was never really distracted by it. . . . To tell you the truth, I never really thought about it or lost sleep over it or gave it a second thought.

“I think making the decision to come to college was the best decision of my life. It worked out in the draft and it worked out in the baseball part of it. But that’s icing on the cake. I’ve had so much fun in college.”

The added excitement came when he landed with an American League team, increasing the chances for family in Vermont to one day see him play in Boston. No matter that it may come with him at first base--the Tigers will consider ways to get his potent bat to the majors as soon as possible, one option being that a new position would relieve Munson of the burden of developing his defensive skills at catcher.

Either way, Tiger officials are talking about his making the majors in 2001, with an outside shot at next season.

Detroit also took two other area products: Dale Campbell, a 6-foot-7 outfielder from Pierce College they plan to convert to a pitcher, in the fifth round and Hamilton High third basemen Anthony Ware in the eighth.

The decision by Zito not to turn pro a year ago, meanwhile, has made him one of the major winners in the draft.

He originally went to UC Santa Barbara, then transferred after one season to Pierce College to become draft eligible. But when that draft came a year ago, he turned down a signing bonus of about $350,000 from the Texas Rangers as their third-round pick and chose USC instead.

And now?

The No. 9 choice could break $2 million.

“I thought I’d go anywhere from 15 to 40,” said Zito, a left-hander who has three 16-strikeout games this season. “A couple of guys slipped, Ben Sheets and Christianson. It’s great the way it worked out for me. I’m thrilled.

“I was hoping for the first round. But if someone would have told me that I’d go in the top third of the first round, I wouldn’t have believed them.”

Sheets, a pitcher from Northeast Louisiana, went 10th to the Milwaukee Brewers.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Local Selections

Local players drafted through the first two rounds of the amateur baseball draft. Sandwich selections are compensation picks between the first and second rounds for Type A free agents (Complete first round, Page 10):

FIRST ROUND

3. Detroit, Eric Munson, c, USC

9. Oakland, Barry Zito, lhp, USC

11. Seattle, Ryan Christiansen, c, Arlington High, Riverside

SANDWICH PICKS

32. Kansas City, Jay Gehrke, rhp, Pepperdine

44. Baltimore, Scott Rice, lhp, Royal High

SECOND ROUND

70. Toronto, Michael Snyder, inf, Ayala High

71. Arizona, Jeremy Ward, rhp, Long Beach State

79. San Diego, Alberto Concepcion, 1b, El Segundo High