By Kevin T. Czerwinski / MLB.com
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Aaron Hicks got most of the attention on Thursday at the Milk House simply because he chose to attend the 2008 First-Year Player Draft. While Hicks' presence made him the de facto face of Major League Baseball's Urban Youth Academy in Compton, Calif., it didn't make him the program's lone representative.
Nine players with ties to the Academy were drafted on Thursday. Hicks and Kyle Skipworth went in the first round. Zach Collier and Mike Montgomery were selected in the Compensation round. That's a marked contrast to last year, when five Academy players were taken in the entire Draft.
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By Charles Odum, AP Sports Writer
GRIFFIN, Ga. — Tim Beckham had his head down as commissioner Bud Selig announced the top pick of the Major League Baseball draft, and then the Griffin High School shortstop was engulfed in a circle of bear hugs from his family.
Thursday's televised announcement was only a formality. Beckham already had a Tampa Bay Rays No. 1 jersey, complete with his name, on the back of his chair. He put on the jersey and a Rays cap as a room full of friends and relatives continued to cheer.
"I found out this morning when they gave me a call," Beckham said. "It was crazy. I was about to do a back flip in my room."
Beckham became the first player from a Georgia school to be selected No. 1 since Mike Ivie was picked from Atlanta's old Walker High School in 1970.
With the status of being the No. 1 pick comes high expectations, which Beckham eagerly embraced.
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