Two power pitchers are chosen

The Angels have an affinity for tall pitchers with power arms, so the fact that they used their first two picks in Thursday’s draft on a pair of 6-foot-4, 210-pound right-handers, Jonathan Bachanov from University High in Orlando, Fla., and Matt Harvey from Fitch High in Groton, Conn., was hardly a shocker.

The surprise was when they got them. Bachanov, rated the 100th-best prospect in Baseball America’s recent draft issue, was the 58th overall pick, a sandwich selection after the first round, and Harvey, a projected first-round pick, fell to the third round, 118th overall.

There is an explanation for both developments.

Bachanov, who combines a lively 92-93-mph fastball with a power slider and changeup, didn’t emerge as a top prospect until this season, when he was 9-2 with an 0.37 earned-run average, 103 strikeouts and 19 walks in 65 innings, and many teams didn’t rate him as highly as the Angels.

The 18-year-old reportedly ruffled some feathers by including a “countdown ‘til I get paid” section on his MySpace page, and some scouts were leery of the fact that Bachanov attended three high schools in four years and was ruled ineligible at one because of a recruiting violation.

“He’s very much a late bloomer,” said Tom Kotchman, the father of Angels first baseman Casey Kotchman and the scout who recommended him. “There aren’t a lot of innings in this arm, but it’s a power arm, and he’s gotten better and better. He’s just a very aggressive kid on the field.”

And off the field?

“He was a model citizen this year,” Kotchman said. “Kids sometimes get bad advice. I’ve done my background work on him, and I’m not concerned with that stuff. If I was uncomfortable with it, we wouldn’t have taken him.”

Harvey, who was 6-1 with an 0.49 ERA and 112 strikeouts in 54 1/3 innings this season, may have been hurt by “The Boras Factor,” the term for top prospects who are advised by high-powered agent Scott Boras and who fall in the draft because teams fear they can’t meet Boras’ asking price or don’t want to negotiate with him.

“We thought there was great value where we picked with both players,” Angels scouting director Eddie Bane said. “You weigh the percentages of signing them and their chances for success.”

Signing Bachanov shouldn’t be a problem. He has not committed to a four-year college and is eager to begin pitching in the Angels’ farm system. He is expected to command a bonus of about $1.5 million.

“I’ve been focused all year on playing professional baseball,” Bachanov said in a conference call. “I was ecstatic when the Angels called, real happy, kind of stunned. It took a while to sink in.”

Harvey, whose fastball has also been clocked at 92-93 mph, will be a bigger challenge. He’s an excellent student with a scholarship offer to North Carolina and seems eager to play college ball. The Angels didn’t have a first-round pick, but Harvey is expected to seek first-round value, probably something around $2.5 million.

What are the Angels’ chances of signing him?

“Not good,” Bane said. “He has a position he thought he’d be drafted at. We will have to get over some bruised egos and feelings, but our track record is pretty good if Matt wants to work on it.”

Those bruised egos have to do with Boras, not Harvey. The Angels and Boras had a very contentious, yearlong negotiation for pitcher Jered Weaver, who finally signed for $4 million in May 2005, a week before he would have reentered the draft.

The Harvey negotiations won’t drag on nearly as long. Under baseball’s new rules, draft picks will have until Aug. 15 to sign.

“In some ways, it makes it easier,” Bane said. “On Aug. 15, you’re done. You either sign them or you don’t.”

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The Angels selected only two other players on the first day of the draft, using their fourth-round pick on Trevor Pippen, an outfielder from Middle Georgia Community College, and their fifth-round pick on Andrew Romine, an Arizona State shortstop who is the son of former Red Sox infielder Kevin Romine.... Utility infielder Maicer Iztirus’ expected return has been pushed back. Izturis, on the disabled list since May 22 because of an irritation in his right hamstring, had his minor league rehabilitation assignment transferred from Class-A Rancho Cucamonga, where he played three games, to triple-A Salt Lake.

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mike.digiovanna@latimes.com