I'm slow in posting this, so chances are by now that you've heard this news from elsewhere, but four locals were drafted today, the second day of the Major League Baseball draft.

The story stars with Stockdale's K.C. Hobson, the best prep player in the section all year. Hobson slipped past yesterday's first three rounds but was nabbed in the sixth round today by the Toronto Blue Jays. I spoke to Hobson by phone, and he sounded pretty excited, even though he'd fallen that far.

Here's why: Hobson's asking for a pretty big contract, money that players picked in the first or second round normally would get. Once he fell past that round, it was unlikely that any team would draft him until much later, because there would be too big of a risk that they wouldn't be able to sign him.

Teams do occasionally pay "over slot" for players they pick, though, and the Blue Jays taking a risk in the sixth round by picking Hobson is a good sign they're willing to do that here. If they didn't think they could sign him, they'd wait till a later round to pick him — when wasting a pick would be much less of a risk.

Teams have till Aug. 17 to sign the players they drafted. In Hobson's case, if he's not signed, he'll likely go play college baseball at Texas A&M where he's signed a national letter of intent.

In later rounds, a couple of Bakersfield College players with local ties were picked. Marcos Reyna, a pitcher out of Delano High who has dramatically increased his velocity since coming to BC, was taken by the Pirates in the 14th round, and Jarret Martin, the Centennial outfielder/pitcher who hit a ton of home runs for the Golden Hawks over the past couple of years, was taken by the Orioles in the 18th round — Balitmore took him in the 19th round last year.

Both Reyna and Martin are freshmen, so if they don't sign, they can easily come back to BC and continue to build their draft stock for next year. But both sound like they're ready to get into pro ball. Reyna had told teams before the draft that he would sign for top-15 round money, and Martin said he's lowered his price from last year, when he and the Orioles couldn't agree on a deal.

Jared Eskew, a former Liberty pitcher who's now a junior at Cal Poly SLO, was nabbed by the Florida Marlins in the 29th round.

I'll keep you posted on if and when these guys sign.