Cards use top pick on prep shortstop

ST. LOUIS -- Intangibles beyond the raw numbers led the St. Louis Cardinals to select Oklahoma high school shortstop Pete Kozma with the 18th overall pick of the baseball draft on Thursday.

Kozma, 18, batted .522 his senior year with 11 home runs and 55 RBIs, and only five strikeouts in 113 at-bats. His solo homer was the only run in the Class 6A title game for Owasso High.

Area scout Steve Gossett coached Kozma for a brief time last summer, providing valuable insight. Those impressions helped elevated Kozma's tools, rated at above average across the board with no major flaws and no major strengths, in the team's eyes beyond other teams who projected him as a later pick.

"I got to know this kid, I know what's in his heart," Gossett said. "I know what kind of family he comes from, his work ethic, and stuff like that."

The Cardinals' draft position is their earliest since 2001, off their 83-78 regular-season record last year. The team had four picks in the first two rounds, due to free agent compensation.

Kozma, 6-1 and 180 pounds, is the third infielder taken in the first round by the Cardinals since 1997. Second baseman Adam Kennedy was the 20th pick in 1997 and Tyler Greene was selected in 2005.

Kozma had a school-record .553 average as a junior and has a commitment to attend Wichita State. The team believes they have a good chance of signing him.

-- AP