A's have a chance to strike it big in the week's draft – aParently Speaking
The good news for the A’s is that they have three picks on Day One of the three-day player draft that starts Thursday night in New York.
Better news is that the top end of the draft is believed to be deep, so the A’s have a chance to tap good talent with draft picks No. 6, No. 37 and No. 47. The club has four picks in the top 100, including No. 76, and also the 106th pick.
The somewhat dicey news is that there is no consensus, not just on who the A’s should take, but on who anybody should take. A quick take of draft projections Wednesday had the A’s tying the knot with Tennessee third/second baseman Nick Senzel, New Jersey high school left-handed pitcher Jason Groome, Mercer outfielder Kyle Lewis, Southern California high school outfielder Mickey Moniak and Louisville outfielder Corey Ray.
Those are five well-regarded players, and it’s possible that none of the five will be available when the A’s pick sixth. It also possible, although extremely unlikely, that all will be sitting there.
The truth, as they say, is likely somewhere in between, and we will know for sure come Thursday evening when MLB Network begins its coverage from Secaucus, N.J. at 4 p.m. (PDT). Former A’s pitcher Dallas Braden was supposed to represent the team in Secausus, but he had other obligations and former A’s outfielder Eric Byrnes will do the honors instead.
“I think this is a fairly deep draft,’’ A’s general manager David Forst said. “At the same time, there is no clear No. 1 pick. If you look at ESPN and MLB.com and Baseball America, you’ll probably find three different players. There’s a big draft pool even for No. 1.’’
Unlike the NFL and NBA and even NHL drafts, the draft for Major League Baseball is something of a roll of the dice. The sixth pick in 2010, Barrett Loux, a right-handed pitcher out of Texas A&M. The Diamondbacks took him, then declined to sign him after looking at his medical charts. The Rangers went ahead and signed him, but he’s been hurt off and on and is now pitching for independent Sugar Land, just outside of Houston.
Then there’s the sixth pick in 2011. The Nationals selected third baseman Anthony Renden out of Rice. He was a regular with the Nats by 2013 and led the National League in runs scored in 2014, his first full season, finishing fifth in the MVP voting
Picking in front of the A’s and hoping to get someone of Rendon-like impact are five National League teams: Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Atlanta, Cincinnati and Milwaukee.
The A’s, like all teams, have had their executives and scouts huddling for a week or more, hashing out just who should be in and who should be out. And that’s not just for the first pick but for all of Oakland’s 42 picks in the 40-rounds spread over three days. Having four of the first 76 picks isn’t unprecedented, but it is unusual for the A’s.
“There are teams with more picks, but this is a big chance for us,’’ Forst said. “We’re not often in the position of having this many picks. We do have a better opportunity this year to help ourselves with the number of picks and the depth of the talent pool.’’
The A’s have a long history under Billy Beane and Forst to take the player they believe is the best rather than picking for need.
Don’t look for that to change.
“With a pick like sixth, it’s even more important to take the best player available,’’ Forst said.
So even though the A’s have good depth at, say third base, that wouldn’t preclude the club from taking Senzer, and the A’s need now for starting pitching at the big league level wouldn’t necessarily will give Groome a leg up in Oakland’s view.
Here’s a breakdown of the five players to who the A’s have been linked, realizing that the actual pick may be someone else:
New Jersey high school left-handed pitcher Jason Groome: The 6-foot-6 Groome is a classic power left-hander. He shows a 96-mph four-seam fastball and 93-mph two-seamer. But he has a whole host of other pitches, including a 72-mph changeup that scouts like. And they’ve been impressed by his command. Some see him as the best pitcher available in the draft.
Mercer outfielder Kyle Lewis: Projected as a right fielder, Lewis is perhaps a 4½-tool player who hit .411 average with 17 homers and 64 RBI with an eye-opening .729 slugging percentage while not making an error. The knock against him is that he isn’t a breakout base runner.
Southern California high school outfielder Mickey Moniak; Prep hitters are notoriously difficult to project, but Moniak’s numbers are, to say the least, outstanding. He hit .463 as a freshman, .426 as a sophomore and .488 as a junior and .476 this year. He’s a center fielder with some power and at least one mock draft has projected him as being the top pick in the draft.
Louisville outfielder Corey Ray: Although he mostly played right field this season, Ray is seen as perhaps the best pure center fielder in the draft. He’s a career .326 hitter and is a good base stealer, with 44 for the Cardinals this season. What has made him jump in the eyes of scouts is going from one homer as a freshman, he had 14 homers this season.
Tennessee third baseman Nick Senzel: The Volunteer is a slugger whose name jumped into prominence when he led the Cape Cod Summer League with a .558 slugging percentage and a .476 on-base percentage while being named MVP. Seen as the best Tennessee infielder since Todd Helton, Senzer has played some second base, but is seen by most – but not all – as a better fit at third.
Other players considered to be potential top-10 picks include Puerto Rican shortstop Delvin Perez out of the International Baseball Academy, left-handed pitcher A.J. Puk out of Florida, left-handed high school pitcher Braxton Garrett out of Alabama, high school outfielder Blake Rutherford out of Southern California, prep right-handed pitcher Matt Manning out of Sacramento’s Sheldon High, high school right-handed pitcher Riley Pint out of Kansas, catcher Zack Collins out of Miami, high school right-handed pitcher Ian Anderson out of New York and right-handed pitcher Dakota Hudson out of Mississippi State.
Thursday consists of round one, the compensation round, and then round two. Rounds 3-10 take place Friday and rounds 11-40 on Saturday.
