Southland Has Eight Selected in First Round

First baseman Adrian Gonzalez of Chula Vista Eastlake High was selected with the No. 1 pick by the Florida Marlins and Cal State Fullerton right-hander Adam Johnson was selected second by the Minnesota Twins in major league baseball’s amateur draft Monday.

Johnson was one of eight players with Southland ties to be selected in the first round.

Corona Centennial High left-hander Mike Stodolka was selected fourth by the Kansas City Royals; Palmdale High right-hander Matt Harrington seventh by the Colorado Rockies; Stanford outfielder Joe Borchard of Camarillo 12th by the Chicago White Sox; UCLA infielder Chase Utley 15th by the Philadelphia Phillies; Loyola Marymount left-hander Billy Traber 16th by the New York Mets; El Camino College pitcher Robert Stiehl 27th by the Houston Astros; and Michigan catcher David Parrish, who played at Anaheim Esperanza and is the son of former major leaguer Lance Parrish, 28th by the New York Yankees.

The Angels took Joe Torres, a left-hander from Gateway High in Kissimmee, Fla., with the 10th pick and Auburn junior right-hander Chris Bootcheck with the 20th pick.

The Dodgers selected Arizona’s Ben Diggins, a 6-7 right-hander from Arizona with the No. 17 selection.

Gonzalez is the first high school infielder to be taken No. 1 since Alex Rodriguez in 1993.

“He definitely possesses the best pure stroke in this year’s draft,” said Al Avila, the Marlins’ scouting director.

Gonzalez, 6 feet 2, batted .645 with 13 home runs and 34 runs batted in this season. He agreed to a $3-million signing bonus--the third-highest for a high school player--before the draft.

“It takes a lot of pressure off your back,” Gonzalez said.

Johnson was 7-4 with a 2.72 earned-run average and six complete games this season. He is the Titans’ career strikeout leader with 365 and set the season record this year with 166.

Johnson benefited from signability questions about Harrington, who was regarded as a potential No. 1 overall selection. Johnson also was drafted by Minnesota in the 25th round of the 1997 draft after his senior year at Torrey Pines High.

“We’ve watched him every year since then, and he pitched himself into this selection with his performance this season,” said Mike Radcliff, the Twins’ scouting director. “We had pursued Harrington, but the bottom line is that he made himself unsignable by us because of his demands.”

Torres, 6-3, 175 pounds, was 4-4 and had one save in 11 games this season. He had 128 strikeouts in 55 innings. Bootcheck, 21, was 9-2 with a 3.76 ERA.

Diggins was 10-4 with a 3.83 ERA in 17 games for Arizona, striking out 127 in 113 innings.

“It feels great to be able to be selected by a team with as much tradition as the Dodgers,” said Diggins, a converted catcher. “I’ve only been pitching for three years.

“I still have a long way to go to refine my off-speed pitches.”

The Dodgers also chose right-hander Joel Hanrahan of Norwalk High in Iowa with the 57th pick; right-hander Jeffrey Tibbs of Davis High in Farmington, Utah at No. 87; Lamar University right-hander Heath Totten at No. 147.

“There were more position players last year; more power and speed-type guys,” said Ed Creech, the Dodgers’ assistant general manager in charge of scouting. “This year there are more power arms.

“We went after the best players available at the time [they selected]. Obviously, they happened to be pitchers. Sometimes that happens.”

Several players expected to be chosen in the first round dropped to the second round.

Pepperdine catcher Dane Sardinha was selected by the Cincinnati Reds with the 46th pick, Stanford right-hander Jason Young was taken 47th by the Rockies and Cal third baseman Xavier Nady was selected by the Padres at No. 49.

Arizona State right-hander Jason Fingers, son of Hall of Fame reliever Rollie Fingers, was selected by Kansas City with the 284th pick. Atlanta took Pennsylvania high school shortstop Aaron Herr, son of infielder Tom Herr, with the 40th pick.

San Francisco selected Florida Southern infielder Lance Niekro, son of knuckleballer Joe Niekro, with the 61st pick and then took Cuesta College right-hander Kyle Gross, son of pitcher Wayne Gross, with the 151st selection.

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Staff writers Lon Eubanks and Jason Reid and The Associated Press contributed to this story.