KISSIMMEE -- "Oh, baby! I'm an Angel!" pitcher Joe Torres said.

With the 10th pick in Major League Baseball's annual summer draft Monday, the Anaheim Angels vaulted Torres, a 17-year-old left-hander from Gateway High, onto Cloud 9.

"This caught me by surprise. I expected the Angels to be pressured into taking a left-hander from California," Torres said. "I'm happy, real happy, but I've got to find Anaheim on the map.

"There's nothing to compare this to. It's incomparable. Just to be that high in the draft, to be in the top 10 picks, that's an amazing feat. Wow! That's an accomplishment. This is just the beginning. My whole life starts right now."

It's almost a certainty that the rest of Torres' life will start with money in his pocket. Eight of the top 10 picks in last year's draft received signing bonuses of at least $2 million; last year's 10th pick, college pitcher Ben Sheets, received a $2.45 million bonus from Milwaukee.

Torres doesn't know just how big a bonus he will be offered. "The money talk will come later," he said.

But money is on Torres' mind. Solitaire earrings decorate both ears. Asked whether the 1-carat stones are real, he replied, "Not yet."

"There are a few toys I want and I'd like to help out my parents," he said, "but the bulk of whatever bonus I get will go to savings. The really big money still is in the future."

One "toy" Torres has an eye on is a $52,000 Lexus 470 sport-utility vehicle.

Joe's father, Hughes Torres, and David Sloane, Torres' agent, will handle contract negotiations with the Angels.

"I don't want to get in the middle, but it won't be official until I sign off on the deal," said Joe Torres, who already has a baseball scholarship from Miami. "Now, it's time for me to go out and play ball to move up the [professional] ladder as quickly as possible."

Torres' family, friends and teammates applauded after Angels scout Tom Kotchman turned Torres' anxiety into an ear-to-ear smile with one brief phone call.

Kotchman, from the St. Petersburg area, will manage Torres at Boise, Idaho, where the Angels' rookies play a 38-game schedule from June 20-Sept. 6 in the short-season Northwest League.

"Maybe I'll take up farming in the off-season," Torres said, jokingly.

Kotchman's son, Casey, a junior first baseman for St. Petersburg's Seminole High, was Torres' teammate on the 1998 Junior USA world championship team. He, too, approves of the Angels' choice. "Joe is flat-out nasty as a pitcher," Casey Kotchman said.

Numbers back up the assessment. In a high school program that didn't provide much support and went without a winning season during Torres' three-year career, Torres was a lackluster 14-15. But his other numbers were what impressed scouts, as he crafted a 1.58 ERA with 370 strikeouts in 1982/3 innings. As a senior, he was 4-4 with a 0.38 ERA and 128 strikeouts in 55 innings.

Azalia Torres' living room was packed Monday with people who watched her son put up those numbers. Torres watched as her husband and son high-fived friends and wondered where they could go to stock up on Anaheim Angels hats.

"It's probably one of the most exciting moments in the family since Joe was born," she said before bouncing off to organize a dining room buffet rife with Latin American favorites.

"I'm all wound up," Hughes Torres said. "This has been a long time coming. As far as the Angels go, they're a team that seems committed to player development."

Said Dave Ridenour, Torres' high school coach: "I'm very happy. It has been a fun ride for us all, and it certainly is a first for Gateway."

With the third pick, the Chicago Cubs thought about Torres, but opted instead for Miami Coral Park shortstop Luis Montanez. Within minutes of Torres' selection, the phone rang again. It was Montanez calling to congratulate and wish Torres well. The two became friends after meeting at last weekend's FACA All-Star series in Sebring, where Torres' 96-mph fastballs made friends of 80-plus big-league scouts.

Dionisio Torres, 70, Joe's paternal grandfather, predicted more than a dozen years ago in New York that his grandson's future was baseball after watching then-5-year-old Joe play pitch and catch in the Bronx. "I told his father he needs to keep on him about baseball," Dionisio Torres said.

Expected to be in Idaho by June 14, Torres left today with Gateway classmates for Cancun, Mexico.

Torres is the second Osceola County player to go in the first round. Atlanta selected Osceola High right-handed pitcher Jaime Arnold with the 22nd pick in 1992. His big-league debut came in 1999 with Los Angeles.