The Tampa Bay Rays were prepared for the first pick in the 2008 MLB draft held at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. on June 5-6, 2008. For the second year in a row the Tampa Bay Rays were holding the No 1 pick and this year they selected Tim Beckham, the talented high school shortstop from Griffin, Ga., over Florida State University catcher Buster Posey who was expected to be their first choice but instead the Rays went with Beckham because of his well rounded skills as a fielder and his hitting abilities, leaving Buster Posey to be selected by the San Francisco Giants as their first round (fifth overall) draft pick in 2008.

Tim Beckham (pictured at the left) has been recognized by scouts as one of the best pure athletes in this year’s draft and he has been labeled a legitimate five-tool player. He established himself as the top prep prospect in the nation with solid performances at last summer’s high school showcase events and hit .500 with five homers, 31 RBIs and 16 stolen bases this season.

With the second pick in hand, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected the power swinging Vanderbilt third baseman Pedro Alvarez. Florida high school first baseman Eric Hosmer went to the Kansas City Royals as the third pick overall. The Baltimore Orioles took top college pitching prospect Brian Matusz out of San Diego as the fourth overall pick in this year’s draft. The San Francisco Giants selected catcher Buster Posey as the fifth overall pick.

Here’s the Top Ten overall draft picks for 2008

Catchers must be in high demand because this year there were three of them selected in the top ten overall picks. Two shortstops, both with the last name Beckham were selected in the top ten overall. To see the complete first round results, visit ESPN’s MLB Draft Tracker.

Congratulations to Tim Beckham and all the young, future MLB baseball talent who are making their dreams come true as a result of their hard work and dedication.

Ken Griffey Jr., who has been approaching his 600th career home run has sat out the last few days in the Reds vs Phillies series at Philadelphia. While the reports are Griffey is not feeling up to snuff, we all know the real reason is that the Cincinnati Reds organization would rather see him make his 600th strike on Reds territory in front of the home town fans. You’d have to be a jet fuel genius to realize that a scenario such as Griffey’s 600th would account for higher than average ticket sales at the box office and I don’t think there’s many true baseball fans out there who would disagree with the organization’s intentions to please their fans and take them to the show.

Here’s an excellent article about Griffey’s 600th from of all places, a NY Yankee blog, but the author brings several insightful and overall positive opinions to the table. Including this quote which is indicative of a true MLB baseball fan…

Griffey deserves to be treated just like those who hit 600 prior to him. He deserves to have more people talking about him and praising him. So why don’t we? As baseball fans I think that we should all be excited for this historical happening, regardless of what team we root for.

Couldn’t agree any more with that bit of logic especially these days when players move from team to team at the blinking of an eye. Regardless of the current team a player is part of the starting linuep, we should respect them when they accomplish greatness which only furthers the game we love as fans.

SportsPhile also has another fantastic article entitled Where’s All The Hoopla For Ken Griffey Jr’s 600th Home Run? that echoes similar opinions to the previously mentioned article. One especially intriguing observation is when the the author, Chuck, states the following…

What you WON’T see is much of any celebration on Ken Griffey Jr. approaching the 600th home run milestone. I believe this is so unfair and hypocritical because Ken Griffey may be the first player in the last 35 years to reach 600 without cheating. He’s being forced to quietly make history in the shadows.

A statement we here at BaseballTalkPro are in total agreement with. The truest of MLB baseball fans are watching Griffey humbly advance into the elite 600 crowd occupied by only five other sluggers: Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Sammy Sosa. The closest active players behind Griffey is the Yankees’ bombshell Alex Rodriguez and the White Sox’s Jim Thome.

Hats off to Ken Griffey and we’ll all be watching for that 600th HR in from of the Cincinnati Reds fans !!!

We still need at least 9 more teams in our fantasy baseball league for 2008. We will be giving away prizes all season long to the the league leaders. Prizes are TBA and will include memorabilia, baseball cardss and cash prizes. There is no cost to register but hurry up because once the league is full, we will not be accepting any more teams.

For info visit : BaseballTalkPro Fantasy League 2008 Forum

To join our Yahoo Sports! League :

1.) go to this url : Yahoo! Sports - Join Private League
2.) enter league ID : 221836
3.) enter password : allstars08

Please don’t bother joining if you’re not going to be active. The prizes we will be giving away will be an assortment of MLB memorabilia, online vouchers for MLB gear and the overall champion of the league will win a special bonus prize (TBA).

Join Now and Win Prizes !!!