Canadians getting the call in 2012 MLB Draft

The first Canadian is off the board at the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft. However, it wasn't left-hander Ryan Kellogg, who was widely considered the top Canadian prospect this year, but rather third basemen Eric Wood, who went 196th overall to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Wood, 19, hails from Oshawa, Ont., and attended Blinn College in Texas where he had a team-high 39 RBIs to go along with a .318 batting average and four home runs in 173 at-bats this season. A Pickering High School alum, he was a 37th-round selection of the Oakland Athletics last year, but didn't sign with the A's.

While Wood wasn't even listed in Baseball America's top 500, Kellogg was ranked No. 203, but had to wait until pick No. 385 to be selected. But if you ask Kellogg, it was probably worth the wait because it was his hometown Blue Jays who came calling. At 6-foot-6 and 217 pounds, Kellogg, 18, of nearby Whitby, Ontario, is a highly regarded high school arm, although some teams may have been wary after he signed a letter of intent with Arizona State University.

Kellogg began to draw attention after being named the most valuable player of Canada's national junior baseball team for 2011 and being one of only two Canadians to play in last summer's Under Armour All-American at Wrigley Field.

Kellogg showed off his stuff when the Canadian Junior team faced the Blue Jays in a spring training game in March, pitching two scoreless innings while inducing groundouts from both Adam Lind and J.P. Arencibia and getting Jose Bautista to pop out.

Left-hander David Otterman from the University of British Columbia was the second Canadian selected, taken in the seventh round (245th overall) by the Milwaukee Brewers.