Bell Is Thrilled With Draft Lot

ATLANTA —  Trevor Bell has been a child actor, starring in commercials for Hot Wheels, Kellogg’s and Old Navy, played the outfield and pitched in high school, and was born on arguably the most infamous date in Angel history.

But the grandson of a former Bozo the Clown who considers himself a surfer dude and hangs with Barry Zito is about to take on the biggest role of his life -- that of the Angels’ first draft pick of 2005.

The Angels, with the 37th pick in the supplemental round, selected the right-handed Bell on Tuesday as a pitcher from Crescenta Valley High in La Crescenta and Bell, 18, said he shared a good cry with his mother.

“The Angels have been my favorite team,” said the 6-foot-1, 190-pound Bell, who was 8-3 with two saves and a 1.13 earned-run average as a senior while striking out 113 batters in 80 innings. He also batted .367 with eight home runs and 20 runs batted in.

“I’m from SoCal so I like SoCal teams,” he said.

Bell, who has played for the Angels’ Elite fall team, has not signed a letter of intent to play in college, though he said he talked with USC, Arizona State and San Diego State.

Which all leads to speculation that Bell, who is represented by SFX, should be relatively easy to sign, unlike last year’s top pick, Jered Weaver, who took nearly a year amid sometimes acrimonious contract talks between Weaver’s agent, Scott Boras, and the Angels.

Last year’s 37th pick, high school catcher John Poterson, signed with the New York Yankees for $925,000; the 30th pick, high school pitcher Eric Hurley, signed with Texas for $1.05 million, and the 40th pick, college pitcher Huston Street, signed with Oakland for $800,000.

Eddie Bane, the Angels’ scouting director, said Bell, whose fastball has been clocked at 95 mph, already had a major league curveball.

Bell’s birth date, Oct. 12, 1986, was the day Dave Henderson homered against Donnie Moore in Game 5 of the American League championship series with the Angels one strike away from their first World Series.

“Oh my God, are you serious?” said Bell, whose grandfather, Bob Bell, played Bozo for several years on WGN-TV in Chicago.

The Angels, who did not have a first-round pick after sending it to Boston as compensation for signing free-agent shortstop Orlando Cabrera, had a supplemental pick because they’d lost Troy Percival as a free agent to Detroit.

Other early Angel picks: shortstops Ryan Mount from . Ayala High in Chino with the 58th pick, and Patrick Phillips from Redan High in Stone Mountain, Ga., 71st. The Angels hope to have Phillips take batting practice with the team today in Atlanta.

Times staff writer Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this report from Anaheim.