Major League Baseball

Padres sign top draft pick

Published Jun. 11, 2011 4:00 a.m. ET

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Cory Spangenberg is going to get his wish.

San Diego's top pick wanted to start playing again as soon as possible, so the 20-year-old second baseman became the first first-round selection from this week's draft to come to terms when he reached a deal with the Padres on Friday.

''It's an unbelievable feeling,'' said Spangenberg, who took batting practice with the Padres at Petco Park. ''I can't wait to start playing.''

Spangenberg received a signing bonus of $1.86 million.

The former Pennsylvania prep star played at Virginia Military Institute for a year and won Big South Conference freshman of year honors before transferring to Indian River State College. He batted .477 this season for Indian River, the sixth-best average in the nation among Division I junior colleges.

Spangenberg went No. 10 overall - higher in the draft than he thought he would go.

''I'm an average guy with good speed, who can hit for average,'' said Spangenberg, a lefty-batting line-drive hitter.

Spangenberg will head to Arizona for a couple of weeks before joining short-season Class-A Eugene. The plan is to return to Arizona in the fall for instructional ball.

''Our area scout Willie Bosque did a really good job of getting to know the kid and we had a good idea that we would be able to sign him early,'' Padres scouting director Jaron Madison said. ''One of our big emphasis has been finding players who fit perfectly for this field, guys who can not only defend, but can run and can take advantage of the spaciousness of the ballpark and he fits that perfectly.''

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