MLB draft Rays take Price first overall

Hard-throwing left-hander David Price of Vanderbilt was selected by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with the No. 1 pick in the baseball draft Thursday.

Price went 11-1 with a 2.63 ERA and Division I-leading 194 strikeouts for the Commodores. He is the fourth left-hander taken with the top pick and first since Brien Taylor went to the New York Yankees in 1991.

The first round of the draft was being televised live from an actual site for the first time after being held strictly by conference call in previous years. About 400-500 fans were at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Fla., and commissioner Bud Selig was in attendance, along with Tom Lasorda, Dave Winfield, Darryl Strawberry, Don Zimmer and Frank Howard.