Talk » player to have.Earlier in Fridays evening s

SECAUCUS, N.J. -- The Toronto Blue Jays drafted a tall, athletic pitcher with their first pick of the 2013 Major League Baseball draft. Sound familiar? The Blue Jays selected right-hander Phil Bickford with the 10th overall pick Thursday. The 17-year-old right-hander from Oaks Christian High School in California is six-foot-four, 200 pounds, and can throw a 96 m.p.h. fastball that Torontos director of amateur scouting, Brian Parker, says is polished. Bickford led his high school club to its division championship, where he struck out 18 batters in the final, including 11 in a row. Bickford finished his senior season with a 1.72 earned-runs average, allowing 44 hits and recording 159 strikeouts in 99.1 innings. "Were very excited about this kid," Parker said on a conference call. "Hes got one of the best fastballs in the draft. Hes an athletic kid and were all very excited to get this guy going." Blue Jays scouts seem to have an eye for rangy pitchers of late. Toronto has drafted 11 pitchers measuring six-foot-four or taller since 2007. "I think its something we look for," Parker said. "I think athleticism is something we focus on with pitchers, especially high school kids. Those are the types of frames and athletes were looking to get into our rotation." Parker said that Bickfords fastball is good enough for professional baseball right now, but the other pitches in his repertoire need development. "We think the secondary stuff is developing," Parker said. "We think the changeup is the better (secondary) pitch right now, but we think he has the chance to have a pretty good breaking ball." Bickford has a commitment to NCAA Division I school Cal State Fullerton, but Parker doesnt see that as an obstacle to getting him signed. "Almost every high school kid out there has a college commitment," he said. "Thats kind of the territory that we have when we take high school guys." It hasnt always worked out for Toronto, however. The Blue Jays drafted six-foot-four right-hander Tyler Beede out of high school in the first round of the 2011 draft even though Beede had a commitment to Vanderbilt University. The Blue Jays and Beede couldnt bridge a sizable gulf in negotiations over a signing bonus, and Beede elected not to sign.Jordan Clarkson Jersey . 10 Texas Rangers jersey for one last time. Young formally announced his retirement Friday after returning to Rangers Ballpark, his baseball home for all but the last of his 13 major league seasons. LeBron James Jersey . Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee? Green had bounced around the NBA when he wasnt playing overseas. The Pacers gave up on Plumlee after just one season. Now Green and Plumlee are key cogs in the Suns surprising breakout season. https://www.thecavalierslockerroom.com/Cedi-Osman-City-Edition-Jersey/ .C. -- Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Bobcats got off to a fast start, and the Sacramento Kings were never quite able to catch up. George Hill Cavaliers Jersey . Their experience showed Tuesday as the No. 10 Badgers blunted a Saint Louis surge to win 63-57 and advance to face West Virginia in Wednesdays finals of the Cancun Challenge. J.R. Smith Jersey . After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday.Kei Nishikori faces Marin Cilic in his final group match of the ATP World Tour Finals on Friday evening, knowing he needs a win to reach the last four.The pair will be on court shortly after 8pm and you can see the match live on Sky Sports 3 HD.Nishikori has won one and lost one so far this year at the O2 Arena and can still finish in any of the top three positions in the group. Cilic lost his first two matches and is already out. Nishikori takes fine form into the match, having outplayed Stan Wawrinka in his opening match and then taken Andy Murray to three sets in his second. John McEnroe Group Won-Lost Sets Games Andy Murray 2-0 4-1 30-20 Kei Nishikori 1-1 3-2 27-23 Stan Wawrinka 1-1 2-2 19-24 Marin Cilic 0-2 0-4 17-26 Cilic, on the other hand, has not yet won a set and needs to make drastic improvements to salvage some success from the tournament. Six months half price Upgrade to Sky Sports to watch Man Utd v Arsenal on Saturday and get the first six months half price Nishikori has won seven of the pairs previous 12 meetings, but Cilic prevailed in the last two, at Wimbeldon in July and Basel last month.Nishikori said: Its not going to be easy. He has a great serve. That match [in Basel] he played really aggressive, so I have to really focus to beat Marin. Highlights of Nishikoris epic match with Andy Murray Cilic added: Im going to definitely enjoy the match against Kei.dddddddddddd. I feel that I want to obviously step up a little bit my game. Im feeling that my tennis is not far from being on a good level. So thats another good match against a great player to have.Earlier in Fridays evening session, Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez face Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram in the Fleming/McEnroe Group of the doubles competition. Fleming/McEnroe Group Won-Lost Sets Games H Kontinen/J Peers 2-0 4-0 25-16 R Klaasen/R Ram 1-1 2-2 20-21 F Lopez/M Lopez 1-1 2-3 22-25 P Herbert/N Mahut 0-2 1-4 21-26 Both pairs have won one and lost one so far this week and need a victory to seal passage to the semi-finals.Klaasen and Ram won the only previous encounter between the two pairs.Watch every day of the ATP World Tour Finals, from November 13-20, live on Sky Sports. Full schedule here.Upgrade to Sky Sports now to watch Man Utd v Arsenal this Saturday and get the first six months half price!Also See:Djokovic eases past GoffinMurray targets perfect SundayMurray beats Nishikori in epicShots to watch at the O2 ' ' '