Cards use first pick on prep shortstop

With no early picks in this year's June baseball draft, the Cardinals were forced to sit around Tuesday and wait for 101 selections to pass before making their first.

When No. 102 finally came around in the third round, the Cardinals were pleased to find shortstop Calvin Hayes -- a right-handed high school senior from Salisbury, N.C. -- still on the board.

The 5-foot-9, 180-pound Hayes hit .465. in 2002 for East Rowan High School, with five home runs and 29 RBIs in 25 games. Also a four-time all-county football player, Hayes, 18, was named Rowan County's Athlete of the Year.

The Cardinals, due to the off-season signings of free agents Jason Isringhausen and Tino Martinez, did not have picks in the first or second round.

With their second pick, No. 132 overall, the Cardinals selected a second shortstop, John Boyer, 22, 6-0, 185, a right-handed junior at Dixie State College in St. George, Utah.

St. Louis made 20 selections overall on Tuesday, the first day of the baseball draft, which concludes today with an additional 28 rounds.

-- AP