MLB Draft Deep Dive: Oakland Athletics

In order to satisfy my innate curiosity as it pertains to the MLB Draft, I have taken a comprehensive look at the 2018 draft for each of the 30 MLB organizations. But I also wanted to get an idea of what each of the teams had done for the 20 years prior so that is included as a prelude to the 2018 information. I'll be looking first at each team in each division, starting with the National League East, and then I'll follow up with a an overall look at both the historical draft results to date and the early 2018 results.

My goal is to get a better idea of the big picture as to how the systems compare in terms of draft results, as well as how a good or bad draft class affects a system, the overall impact of the draft on the baseball talent pool and the circuitous ways in which draft picks are used to bolster a system for which they may never even play. This project is just a first step. I intend to expand on this information over time (including a later revisit of the 2018 class and the addition of the 2019 class next offseason) and I will share my findings as I do so.

AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST

OAKLAND ATHLETICS

Historical Draft Results from 1998 through 2017 (TO DATE)
Drafted 889 | Signed 601 | Pitchers Signed 314 | Position Players Signed 287
Total WAR 341.2
Total Players to MLB 93

Note: The following players are listed at the position at which they were originally drafted.

1998 | 6 to MLB | WAR 35.8 | High WAR 20.1, LHP Mark Mulder, 1st rd
1999 | 4 to MLB | WAR 42.6 | High WAR 32.0, LHP Barry Zito, 1st rd
2000 | 5 to MLB | WAR 16.9 | High WAR 17.7, RHP Rich Harden, 17th rd
2001 | 8 to MLB | WAR 17.6 | High WAR 5.4, SS Bobby Crosby, 1st rd
2002 | 8 to MLB | WAR 42.2 | High WAR 22.0, 1B Nick Swisher, 1st rd
2003 | 2 to MLB | WAR 20.4 | High WAR 21.2, OF Andre Ethier, 2nd rd
2004 | 11 to MLB | WAR 41.4 | High WAR 19.9, C Kurt Suzuki, 2nd rd
2005 | 7 to MLB | WAR 15.2 | High WAR 10.3, SS Cliff Pennington, 1st rd
2006 | 2 to MLB | WAR 17.3 | High WAR 11.4, RHP Trevor Cahill, 2nd rd
2007 | 4 to MLB | WAR 7.8 | High WAR 8.4, 1B Sean Doolittle, 1st rd
2008 | 4 to MLB | WAR 9.0 | High WAR 7.3, RHP Tyson Ross, 2nd rd
2009 | 6 to MLB | WAR 5.9 | High WAR 6.4, RHP Dan Straily, 24th rd
2010 | 3 to MLB | WAR 3.5 | High WAR 5.7, RHP A.J. Griffin, 13th rd
2011 | 4 to MLB | WAR 21.6 | High WAR 12.9, RHP Sonny Gray, 1st rd
2012 | 7 to MLB | WAR 29.0 | High WAR 12.0, SS Addison Russell, 1st rd
2013 | 8 to MLB | WAR 3.5 | High WAR 3.0, SS Chad Pinder, 2nd rd
2014 | 4 to MLB | WAR 11.5 | High WAR 11.7, 3B Matt Chapman, 1st rd
2015 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A
2016 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A
2017 | 0 to MLB | WAR 0.0 | High WAR N/A

The highest WAR to date, both total and individual, is from 1999. Oakland definitely got good bang for their buck from LHP Barry Zito (1st round, 32.0 WAR). His first seven seasons with the A's produced 30.6 of his 32.0 total WAR, three All-Star nods and an American League Cy Young Award in 2002. Zito left the A's via free agency, but was not nearly so successful in his seven years with the Giants (2007 through 2013). He did, however, earn two World Series rings (2010, 2012) with San Francisco although he was left off the postseason roster in 2010. After a year off in 2014, Zito signed a minor league contract with Oakland in 2015, making his way back to the A's for three final appearances toward the end of the season before retiring that offseason. The second most productive member of that Oakland 1999 class was OF Ryan Ludwick (2nd round, 11.2 WAR), but he never played for the A's. He was traded in January 2002 (along with three other players) to the Rangers for 1B Carlos Pena and LHP Mike Venafro.

2018 DRAFT
41 Drafted | 35 Signed | 16 Pitchers | 19 Position Players
33 College | 32 Signed | 15 Pitchers | 17 Position Players
3 JC/CC | 2 Signed | 1 Pitcher | 1 Position Player
5 HS/NS | 1 Signed | 0 Pitchers | 1 Position Player

Notable: The A's received one additional draft pick for Competitive Balance (Round B). Oakland signed their top 24 picks and 34 of their top 35 with their top holdout being 24th round RHP Dakota Mills, Sam Houston State.

PITCHERS
All but two of the 16 pitchers signed (14 RHP, 2 LHP) logged at least some playing time. Two of these pitchers were promoted beyond the Short Season A* level, both to Full Season A. One pitcher debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the A's. 13th round RHP Dallas Woolfolk was placed on the restricted list in December after testing positive for amphetamine.

Top Prospects

LHP Hogan Harris, 3rd round, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, DNP

Noteworthy Debut

RHP Gus Varland, 14th round, Concordia University - St. Paul, A
38 IP | 13 G / 11 GS | 0.95 ERA | 0.816 WHIP | 8 BB : 50 K

In total, the Oakland 2018 Draft pitchers combined for a 3.57 ERA and a 1.314 WHIP over 368.1 innings as compared to the 3.67 ERA and 1.299 WHIP (average of 376.2 innings per affiliate) compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

POSITION PLAYERS
All but one of the 19 position players signed (2 1B, 2 2B, 4 3B, SS, 7 OF, 3 C) logged at least some playing time. Three players were promoted beyond the Short Season A* level, two to Advanced A and one to AAA. (The AAA promotion for 2B Nick Ward was for the final two games of the season and the player was pulled up from rookie ball so I'm considering that a fill in rather than a promotion, but speaks well of the system's confidence in that player's defensive abilities.) Four players debuted on MLB Pipeline's Top 30 Prospect list for the A's, two as Top 10 prospects. 38th round OF Austin Piscotty voluntarily retired in July 2018. First round pick OF Kyler Murray recently opted to play football over baseball, at least for now, but the A's retain his baseball rights and will continue to pursue him.

Top Prospects

🔟 OF Kyler Murray (R/R), 1st round, University of Oklahoma, DNP

🔟 OF Jameson Hannah (L/L), 2nd round, Dallas Baptist University, SSA
23 G | .279/.347/.384/.731 | 9 BB : 24 K

SS Jeremy Eierman (R/R), 2nd round, Missouri State University, SSA
62 G | .235/.283/.381/.664 | 13 BB : 70 K

1B Alfonso Rivas (L/L), 4th round, University of Arizona, SSA
61 G | .285/.397/.383/.780 | 36 BB : 44 K | 7 SB : 4 CS | 16 2B / 3B / HR

🔟 Top 10 Prospect

Noteworthy Debut

3B Jonah Bride (R/R), 23rd round, University of South Carolina, SSA
56 G | .280/.368/.410/.778 | 24 BB : 36 K | 17 2B / 3 HR

In total, the Oakland 2018 Draft position players combined to hit .243/.339/.343/.682 as compared to .261/.349/.386/.735 batting line compiled by the total 2018 Draft class in 2018.

*Notes on players include the highest level achieved for the 2018 season using the following abbreviations:
Rk = Rookie
SSA = Short Season A
A = Full Season A
A+ = Full Season A Advanced

GENERAL NOTES: Information was obtained from Baseball-Reference and the MLB Draft History site. The occasional discrepancy in historical information was resolved to the best of my ability by delving into the player information available on B-R. On the historical information, the player position in the totals reflects the position at which the player was drafted (and not any subsequent change of position). On the 2018 information, the player position reflects the primary position played in 2018 for all players who were signed and the position at which the player was drafted for those who did not sign. Prospect listings on MLB Pipeline were as of early January and may not reflect any subsequent changes to that site.

PREVIOUSLY

NL EAST
Atlanta Braves
Miami Marlins
New York Mets
Philadelphia Phillies
Washington Nationals
NL East 2018 Draft Summary

NL CENTRAL
Chicago Cubs
Cincinnati Reds
Milwaukee Brewers
Pittsburgh Pirates
St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central 2018 Draft Summary

NL WEST
Arizona Diamondbacks
Colorado Rockies
Los Angeles Dodgers
San Diego Padres
San Francisco Giants
NL West 2018 Draft Summary

AL EAST
Baltimore Orioles
Boston Red Sox
New York Yankees
Tampa Bay Rays
Toronto Blue Jays
AL East 2018 Draft Summary

AL CENTRAL
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
Kansas City Royals
Minnesota Twins
AL Central 2018 Draft Summary

AL WEST
Houston Astros
Los Angeles Angels

COMING NEXT
Seattle Mariners