Manning, Wolfe Drafted on First Day

The dreams of Pat Manning and Brian Wolfe come true Wednesday when they were selected on the first day of the Major League Baseball amateur draft.

Manning, Mater Dei’s shortstop who batted .494 with 12 home runs and 37 runs batted in this season, was taken in the third round--the 114th player overall--by the Atlanta Braves. Servite’s Wolfe, who was 12-0 with a 1.30 earned-run average this season, was taken in the sixth round--the 179th player--by the Minnesota Twins.

A total of 684 players were chosen in 22 rounds Wednesday in New York. The draft continues today.

“I couldn’t be happier,” Manning said. “The Braves didn’t have a first-round pick, so I feel more like their second-round pick.”

Manning, who has a scholarship to USC as leverage, said Braves officials met with him at his family’s house Monday night. “They knew what it would take to get me to play. I don’t think they want to waste the pick, so I’m confident something will get done.”

Michael Watkins, an agent with Professional Sports Planners in Newport Beach, will represent Manning in contract negotiations.

“The Braves are one of best organizations in baseball,” Watkins said. “We’re hopeful we can work something out.”

Wolfe, who also has a scholarship in hand at Cal State Fullerton, said Wednesday he was “surprised” the Twins chose him.

“I did go in the round I figured to go in,” Wolfe said. “But the Twins only visited me once, about a month ago. We didn’t get a sense they had that much interest.”

Manning and Wolfe hope their contract negotiations don’t take a year to complete, as did Gerald Laird’s negotiations with Oakland.

Laird, a catcher and two-time Times Orange County player of the year while at La Quinta High, was drafted in the second round by the A’s last year, but he rejected their offer and attended Cypress College instead.

The A’s had until midnight Tuesday to come to an agreement or Laird would return to the draft. About 15 minutes before the deadline, Laird agreed to a contract with a signing bonus of $1,000,018 plus $110,000 for college.

“Was [the wait] worth it? Yeah,” Laird said Wednesday. “I knew my ability and I knew if I proved it again they could not [risk not signing me].”

Laird said he expected to be assigned to the single-A Southern Oregon Timberjacks in the Northwest League.

USC catcher Eric Munson was taken third overall and teammate Barry Zito went ninth.

Munson was picked by the Detroit Tigers, as expected, as the first college player chosen. Zito, a junior pitcher, was selected by the Oakland A’s.

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.

Several other Orange County players were also chosen during the first day.

El Dorado catcher Drew McMillan was selected by the Montreal Expos in the third round--the 90th player chosen overall. Steven Smyth, who pitched at Cypress College two years ago and is now at USC, was the Cubs’ fourth-round pick.

Cal State Fullerton shortstop Ryan Owens (Sonora High) was a seventh-round pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Another seventh-round pick was Josh Hochgesang, a third baseman at Stanford from Sunny Hills, who was selected by Oakland.

USC center fielder Brad Ticehurst (Mater Dei) was taken by the Yankees in the 10th round, and University of Houston pitcher Bryan Moore (Westminster High/Orange Coast College) was a 13th-round selection by the Marlins.

Trabuco Hills pitcher Todd Gelatka was taken by Arizona in the 14th round as was Cal State Fullerton left fielder Spencer Oborn by the Chicago White Sox.

Santa Ana College second baseman Oginga Aaron (Tampa Bay Devil Rays), Fountain Valley shortstop William Hudson (Milwaukee Brewers) and Saddleback pitcher Ryan Cheo (San Francisco Giants) were selected in the 19th round.

In Round 22, El Modena shortstop Martin Calderon was picked by the White Sox and Cypress College third baseman-outfielder Chris Klosterman was chosen by the Yankees.

Staff writer Scott Howard-Cooper contributed to this story.