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© St. Petersburg Times, published June 6, 2002
ST. PETERSBURG -- Jason Pridie just wants to go out and play.
Tampa Bay's second-round pick out of Prescott, Ariz., Pridie was riding a bus to see the Astros and Diamondbacks play Wednesday night, but his mind already was racing ahead to putting on a Rays uniform.
"I'm hoping as quickly as I can to get out there and go play baseball for a living," he said. "I'm anticipating it. I love it. I can't wait."
Pridie has plenty of skill -- he can hit, run, field and throw about as well as any high school outfielder in the draft -- but that's not what stuck with Rays scouting director Dan Jennings the most.
"If you want a one- or two-word deal, this guy's a baseball player," Jennings said. "Everything about him, he's just a baseball player. He's blue collar. He's a throwback. They won the state championship, and he basically put the team on his back and said, 'Let's go!' "
In the Class 4A championship game, Pridie delivered a tying hit in the top of the seventh, came on to pitch in the bottom of the seventh, then hit a 370-foot three-run homer in the ninth to give Prescott a 7-5 victory.
He finished the season hitting .556 with 11 homers in 99 at-bats and was named the Gatorade state player of the year.
"It was awesome to come through at the end like that," Pridie said. "It was fun playing in a pressure situation, and I couldn't ask for a better way to end my high school career."
Pridie has a scholarship offer to Vanderbilt, but he is eager to start his pro career. His older brother, Jon, is a pitcher in the Twins organization and just moved up to Double A.
Ranked the No. 55 prospect by Baseball America, Pridie was pleased to go the Rays as the first second-round pick, No. 43 overall.
"I was pumped, it was awesome," Pridie said. "I just hope to move up quick and give them what they picked so they don't feel they made a mistake."
His only problem? "I can't find any Devil Rays hats in my hometown."
SIGN OF THE TIMES: Top pick B.J. Upton didn't sign a contract Wednesday, but he did sign hundreds of autographs for his classmates at Greenbrier Christian Academy in Chesapeake, Va. Upton's father, Manny, told reporters that "if things work out right" he hopes B.J. is playing by "the end of June." Preliminary talks are expected to start this weekend.
FAMILY AFFAIR: Having taken the older brother of Bakersfield outfielder Jonny Gomes in the eighth round Tuesday, the Rays took the younger brother of Durham pitcher Jason Standridge in the 45th round. Justin Standridge, Jennings said, "is a stallion just like his brother: big, strong and durable." ... The Rays drafted catcher Deron Roberts, the son of national scouting cross-checker Dave Roberts, for the second straight year. ... Pitcher Brian Bulger is the younger brother of Jason Bulger, Arizona's first-round pick last year.
THAT'S A WRAP: Jennings said the Rays felt very good about their 50-player haul, which included 31 pitchers, 10 outfielders, six catchers and three shortstops. They took 29 high school players, 17 of them pitchers. "When we set up, the strength of our board was high school pitching," Jennings said. "So do you drop down and take something for a need, or do you go by what your area scouts have a feel on, and that's what we did."
LOCAL CONNECTION: Pitcher Bryan Banks, the 50th-round pick, should be a familiar name to local fans: He starred at Dunedin High and was involved in a February 2001 car accident. The Rays took him in the 35th round last June and didn't sign him, but they will watch him pitch for St. Petersburg College this season and may try again in the spring.