Article:And with the First Pick in the 2008 Major League Baseball Amateur Draft, the Tampa Bay Rays select....

...from Griffin High School in Griffin, GA, shortstop [[Tim Beckham]]. Beckham is a 6'1", 188 pound righthanded hitter who posted .500/5/31 numbers in 78 AB's this season with 16 stolen bases.

The only projected five tool talent in arguably the weakest draft in years, Beckham will "most certainly" play shortstop to begin his career, according to Rays scouting director, R.J. Harrison. Offensively, Beckham is a good hitter despite a hitch in his swing which caused some teams to not consider him as a possible pick. He's a line drive, stripe to stripe hitter who likely won't hit for much power in the big leagues. Defensively, he has a plus arm with good footwork although some question his range and have speculated Beckham likely will be an outfielder by the time he reaches Tampa.

Until early this week, the Rays had pretty much locked onto Florida State catcher Buster Posey. In an interview with ESPN's Keith Law on Tuesday, Harrison stated the Rays "were leaning in another direction" after a story came out that Posey was looking for a ML record contract in the $12 million range. With Vanderbilt University third baseman Pedro Alvarez pricing himself out of Tampa with a rumored demand in the $8.5 million range, the Rays removed Posey from their board as well.

While the selection of Beckham may not be a surprise based on his skill set, he was never the Rays top choice. Instead, he found himself #1 because of the other guys pricetags.