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It's a great time to be a Tampa Bay Rays fan this year. Going into Thursday's games, they hold a firm lead in the American League East, sitting five games ahead of the New York Yankees.
But that's not the only reason for fans to be ecstatic. The team was also awarded the No. 2 pick in this year's draft.
The last time the Rays had a similar draft pick came all the way back in 2008, when they had the first overall pick, taking prep shortstop Tim Beckham. who went on to have a nine-year career in the big leagues, three of those being with the Rays.
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Rays advised not to overcomplicate things with their No. 2 pick
Picking second is a whole lot easier than having a later pick like No. 15. There's not much game planning the front office needs to do with only one player being chosen before them.
There's a clear top three, and that is UCLA's Roch Cholowsky, Texas prep shortstop Grady Emerson, and Georgia Tech catcher Vahn Lackey. With the White Sox likely taking one of these three, Bleacher Report's Zachary D. Rymer suggests the Rays take one of the shortstops that the White Sox don't take.
"They could take whichever shortstop the White Sox don't take at No. 1. It'll either be Roch Cholowsky out of UCLA or Grady Emerson out of Fort Worth Christian in Texas. There's no need to get more complicated than that."
There aren't many flaws in either of these shortstops' games. It's going to come down to who the White Sox feel more comfortable with, and then it should be an easy pick for the Tampa Bay front office, unless they have some surprises up their sleeves and are looking to make an upgrade at a different position.
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