NEW YORK (AP) – After months of evaluating thousands of athletes around the country, the San Diego Padres narrowed their decision on the No. 1 draft pick to three players.

Now comes the most difficult part.

Florida State shortstop Stephen Drew, and right-handers Jered Weaver of Long Beach State and Jeff Niemann of Rice are all being considered by the Padres, who have the top pick in baseball’s first-year player draft Monday.

“We’re fairly happy with all three,” San Diego general manager Kevin Towers said. “It comes down to a choice between two starters, or do you want the position player?”

Towers prefers Drew, who would join brothers J.D. and Tim as the first trio of siblings drafted in the first round. Drew was hitting .349 with 14 homers and 52 RBIs while leading the Seminoles to the NCAA regionals.

Towers said scouting director Bill Gayton will make the final decision on who to select.

With Khalil Greene, the team’s top pick in 2002, settling in as the Padres’ shortstop, San Diego would need to play Drew elsewhere.

“I think he’s a good enough athlete that he could move anywhere other than first base or catcher,” Towers said. “He could play three outfield positions or almost all of the infield positions.”

Weaver, the brother of Dodgers pitcher Jeff Weaver, was considered the no-brainer as the choice for the top pick most of his dominant season. But the Padres threw a curve at the general consensus a few weeks ago, saying it was more than just a one-man race.

Weaver was 15-1 with a 1.65 ERA for the 49ers, and has struck out 201 – just the 15th Division I player to reach that mark. Weaver walked just 19 in 136 1-3 innings.

“All signs say this guy should have a lot of success in professional baseball,” Towers said. “He’s not going to spend a lot of time in the minors.”

But Scott Boras is representing Weaver, and a big factor for teams is being able to meet contract bonus demands.

“For me, the weakness always is not knowing the signability,” said Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin, whose team has the fifth pick. “Sometimes, you get a different opinion from the kid after the draft.”

The other option for the Padres is Niemann, the Owls’ 6-foot-9 ace who went 17-0 last season but struggled through groin problems this year. He recently started flashing the form that made him so dominant during Rice’s College World Series run last year.

Owls right-handers Philip Humber and Wade Townsend are expected to join Niemann as first-round picks, making Rice the first college to have three pitchers selected in the draft’s opening round.

“The strength this year is in the pitching,” New York Mets scouting director Gary LaRocque said. “Every year presents something a little bit different, and I think this year the pitching really stands out as having more depth.”

Other players expected to be top picks include: Texas high school right-hander Homer Bailey, California high school shortstop Matt Bush, Georgia high school shortstop Chris Nelson, Vanderbilt lefty Jeremy Sowers, Texas closer Huston Street, Princeton outfielder B.J. Szymanski and Old Dominion right-hander Justin Verlander.

“I’ve always thought you take the best player regardless of whether he’s high school or college,” Melvin said. “Sometimes you like the college guy because you think he’ll help you quicker, but there’s no guarantee he’ll come up faster.”

Detroit has the second pick, followed by the Mets, Tampa Bay and Milwaukee. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Colorado and Texas round out the first 10 picks.

Minnesota has three first-round selections, and six of the first 61; and Oakland has six of the first 67. Houston, Boston, the Chicago Cubs, San Francisco and Atlanta don’t pick until the second round, while Seattle has to wait until the third round.

While many No. 1 draft picks have worked out remarkably well – Darryl Strawberry (1980), Ken Griffey Jr. (87), Chipper Jones (90) and Alex Rodriguez (93) – some teams find gems in the late rounds. Mike Piazza went to Los Angeles in the 62nd round of the 1988 draft.

“There will be players in this draft that, when you look back, will have moved quickly through their respective organizations,” LaRocque said. “There’s always players out there. You have to be prepared.”

The draft, which lasts 50 rounds and could run through Wednesday, is conducted by conference call.

This is the fifth time the Padres have had the No. 1 pick, and first since they took right-hander Andy Benes in 1988.

With the top pick last year, Tampa Bay selected high school outfielder Delmon Young.

“Last year, I think if you talked to most of the scouting directors, Delmon Young and Rickie Weeks probably were at the top of their list,” said Cam Bonifay, Tampa Bay’s director of player personnel and scouting. “This year, there seems to be more varied opinion on a lot of players with fine ability.”