Townsend, Philip Humber, and Jeff Niemann were all selected in the first eight picks of the 2004 draft – the first time three teammates had ever gone so early in the same draft. Townsend and the Orioles, however, did not agree to contract terms. He hired an agent, thereby renouncing his collegiate eligibility, and enrolled at Rice to complete his degree in his seventh semester. Major League Baseball, however, ruled that Townsend's return to school terminated the Orioles' right to negotiate a contract. He re-entered the draft in 2005 and was again taken eighth overall, this time by the Devil Rays.