The St. Louis Cardinals today announced that they have agreed to terms on a contract with their top selection in the 2007 First-Year Player Draft, infielder Pete Kozma. He was the 18th overall selection in the 1st round. 

The 18-year old starred at Owasso High School in Owasso, Oklahoma where he finished his senior season with team-bests in batting average (.522), runs (56), RBI (55) and home runs (11) while leading his team to a state title.   

Kozma was named the Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Oklahoma and was voted the Rawlings High School Gold Glove shortstop for 2007. He was named to the Louisville Slugger High School All American team and is a Baseball America and USA Today second-team All-American. The 6’1”, 180-pound Kozma posted a .491 career batting average at Owasso (171-for-348) and scored 154 runs with 140 RBI and 30 home runs.  His .553 batting average as a junior was a school record. 

Kozma will report to the Cardinals minor league facility in Jupiter, FL and undergo a physical next Tuesday. Once he is officially signed, he will likely report to short-season Johnson City.

Info courtesy of the St. Louis Cardinals

Florida Marlins pitcher Scott Olsen was arrested in Aventura, FL as a patrol car observed him speeding early Saturday morning. Earlier in the evening Olsen pitched seven innings to beat Cincinnati. His first appearance since serving a two-game unpaid suspension for insubordination and conduct detrimental to the team after a fight with teammate Sergio Mitre last weekend.

According to an Orlando Sentinel report---"Officers employed lights, sirens and their public address system to pull over Olsen. Ignoring the signals, Olsen ran a stop sign and drove his Infiniti SUV to his residence. Once in custody, Olsen failed a field sobriety test and refused to take an intoxilyzer test. Officers transported Olsen to the Dade County Jail sometime after the 3:40 a.m. arrest."

Another Marlins pitcher Dontrelle Willis was arrested in December for suspicion of DUI in Miami Beach. His trial is still pending.

Update

The Marlins issued the following statement:

“The Florida Marlins are aware of the charges facing Scott Olsen. As an organization, we take this very seriously and are extremely disappointed. We will let the legal process run its course and will have no further comment.”

Craig Brown and I kicked off our weekly BDD talk radio show today! 

We talked about the Royals beating the Tigers, Barry Bonds in Milwaukee, and the development of the Devil Rays. (By the way, Craig is real good at this...much better than me!)

Speaking of the Devil Rays, our first guest was Tampa Bay pitching prospect Jeff Niemann. Jeff was rated the 4th best prospect in the Tampa Bay organization and #35 in Baseball America's Top 100 Prospects for 2007. Going into tonight, he was 10-5 at Durham with a 3.92 ERA. He's walked 42 and struck out 101 in 103 1/3 innings.

If you missed the show, you can still check it out by clicking this button . You can listen to the archive online or download the file as a podcast!