Has the draft always been in the evening? I seem to remember if being an afternoon affair... I suppose they want to capitalize on TV audiences. Anyway, it goes down at 6PM tonight.

Batters Box recently had the opportunity to check in with Jon Lalonde before June's draft.  Lalonde and the entire amateur scouting team are at their busiest right now preparing for the draft.  Obviously Lalonde was unable to comment on specific players and in truth the Jays draft board has probably not been settled yet.  Many college teams are still playing and trying to qualify for the college series.  Meanwhile cold weather high school players have recently started playing their seasons.

I don't think there are many surprises in his answers but he does leave the door open on high school pitching and also suggests, but does not absolutely say, that his budget has not been cut back.

The Nationals went 1-9 down the stretch to 'win' the first pick in next year's draft over the Mariners and Padres.

Back at it today beginning around 11:30 with the next 44 rounds, or until the Jays get tired and quit.

Yesterday the Jays took only one pitcher, Andrew Liebel, (and liked him more than my man Chris Carpenter who went a few picks later in round 3 and was also a senior) so I'd expect to see a lot of college pitchers being taken today.

Any player that makes the majors from this point on (other than signability players) is a huge success. In the Ricciardi era the best 7th round and later picks have been Tom Mastny (round 13) and Jesse Litsch (round 24).

The draft starts at 2 pm today. The Jays pick should come around 2:45-3:00.

Our friends at Future Redbirds organized a team blog mock draft. So writers of blogs of (most) teams made picks based on who they thought the team they cover would take.

Here's how things shook out and what I think the Jays would do given what happened in the top 16 picks.

And now some pitchers.

The draft doesn't end after round 1!

The Jays have taken a High Schooler with their top pick two years in a row. Who might be on the radar this year?

It's not a particularly deep year for college pitchers.

For college hitters there's depth at 1B & 3B this year, particularly right around where the Jays will select in round 1 on June 5th.

And we're off

The Blue Jays select Kevin Ahrens, 3B from Memorial HS with the 16th pick and JP Arencibia, C from Tennessee with the 21st pick in the first round.

A look at who is being projected to the Jays:

• Baseball America: Matt Dominguez, JP Arencibia
  
• Baseball Prospectus: JP Arencibia, James Simmons
• ESPN.com: Beau Mills, Peter Kozma
  
• MLB.com: Beau Mills, Peter Kozma
  
• Toronto Sun: Devin Mesoraco, Peter Kozma