Appel goes No. 1 to Astros

SECAUCUS, N.J. - This time, the Houston Astros couldn't resist drafting Mark Appel with the No. 1 pick.

Houston selected the hard-throwing Stanford pitcher with the top choice in the Major League Baseball draft Thursday night, a year after passing on the hometown kid and instead choosing 17-year-old shortstop Carlos Correa from Puerto Rico.

"I talked to him and told him: "Welcome home,'" Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said. "It's a kid's dream to go first in the country, first in the draft and to be taken by your hometown team. It just doesn't get any better than that. It's also really a great opportunity for us."

Appel, who grew up in Houston before moving to California when he was 12, slid to Pittsburgh at No. 8 last year but turned down a $3.8 million offer and returned to Stanford for his senior season. The move paid off.

After going 10-4 with a 2.12 ERA and 130 strikeouts in 1061⁄3 innings this season for the Cardinal, the 6-foot-4, 195-pound Appel is expected to fetch about double the amount he passed up from the Pirates.

"I don't think I necessarily had an end goal in mind when I turned down the Pirates' offer," said Appel, who complements his mid-90s fastball with a nasty slider and improving changeup. "My goals were to finish my degree and become a better baseball player and better person and better teammate. As far as that goes, I think I accomplished those things.

"No matter what happened in the draft, I knew I had done everything that was in my control to put myself in the best situation possible."

The deadline for teams to sign draft picks is July 12, but that doesn't apply to Appel because he is a college senior.

"I'm very confident that Mark Appel is going to put on an Astros uniform," Luhnow said. "He's from here. He wants to play here. He's been selected first in the draft. All the indicators are pointing in the same direction, so I assume it will be a fairly straightforward discussion and that he'll sign sometime this summer."

The draft, which is held over three days and 40 rounds, started Thursday night with the first two rounds at MLB Network Studios. Nine prospects attended and sat in a makeshift dugout as they waited for their names to be called by commissioner Bud Selig in an event that has grown dramatically over the last few years.

"It really is terrific," Selig said. "This is what we had in mind. I love this night. ... This is the way you build a baseball team. It was true when Branch Rickey said it many, many years ago ... and it's just as true today."

It was the second straight season that the first pick was uncertain going into the draft, with Oklahoma right-hander Jonathan Gray and a pair of college third basemen - North Carolina's Colin Moran and San Diego's Kris Bryant - thought to be in the mix for Houston.