As the 2025 MLB Draft quickly approaches, the Prospects Live team wants to make your life as easy as possible. In this series of articles, I'll be providing team-by-team analysis of their recent draft trends, their available draft capital for 2025, any areas of the draft they've heavily targeted, as well as a few names in this year's class that might fit into their historically preferred archetype.
Max Ellingsen
This analysis isn't sourced for the upcoming year, nor is it a guarantee the organization won't pivot from what they've done in the past. Simply put, this article aims to provide an in-depth look at teams and their recent draft classes to try and decipher trends that could help uncover players your favorite team might be targeting. It's far from a perfect science, but I've done my job if it makes things easier to follow on draft day.
Sacramento Athletics
- 2025 Bonus Pool Value - $10,563,500 (19th)
- Top 100 selections - 11, 48
The Athletics have done well for themselves in recent drafts, however after finally tapping into the coffers for some of their major league personnel, they’ve left themselves short handed in this year’s draft. With just two picks in the top one hundred and a middling bonus pool, it will be tough for the A’s to do much maneuvering with their draft pool, and to a certain degree hamstrings their typical strategy.
2024 Draft Overview
Early returns on the 2024 Athletics class have been excellent, with first rounder Nick Kurtz ($1,370,000 underslot) already reaching the majors after dominating every stage of the minor leagues. They used a nice chunk of those savings to secure stud SEC corner infielder Tommy White at pick 40 ($670,000 overslot), betting on White’s advanced bat to carry his relatively mundane fielding value through pro ball. Perhaps their best value pick, the A’s scooped up Gage Jump ($920,000 overslot) out of UCLA in the Comp B round and have already sent him to Double-A. Joshua Kuroda-Grauer (slot) and Rodney Green Jr. ($295,000 overslot) have been somewhat slow to start their professional careers, however with two middle round highschoolers in Josiah Romeo and Dylan Fien (Both signed for $550,000) and early returns on late round guys like Ali Camarillo and Riley Huge looking promising, there’s plenty left to dream on for this class.
2023 Draft Overview
Again opting for an underslot option early, the A’s took GCU SS Jacob Wilson ($1,130,000 underslot) with the 6th pick of the 2023 draft. They stayed diligent in the next few rounds as well, taking Myles Naylor (slot) and Ryan Lasko ($390,000 underslot), ultimately splurging on prep arms Steven Echavarria ($1,990,000 overslot) and Cole Miller ($345,000 overslot) in the third and fourth round. While the players they allocated the money to haven’t panned out so far, they were able to snag Nate Nankil ($25,000 overslot) in the seventh round and Cole Conn in the 12th, two players who are at worst nice organizational depth pieces. Will Simpson, their 15th rounder, was a key piece in the Jeffery Springs trade this past offseason as well, a really nice find for this class that’s lacked impact at the top outside of Jacob Wilson. There’s still plenty of time for the young prep arms to get things figured out, but thus far, this class likely falls short of what they were hoping to accomplish.
2022 Draft Overview
A deviation from their more modern approach to drafting, the A’s opted to go full slot with their first rounder Daniel Susac, then got aggressive and went overslot with high schooler Henry Bolte in the second ($660,000 overslot). They dialed things back a bit with Clark Elliott in the Comp B round ($80,000 underslot), however those savings were quickly swallowed up after they took Colby Thomas out of Mercer ($105,000 overslot). They had to save some money after selecting Jacob Watters ($5,000 overslot) in the fourth and were forced to go underslot the rest of the way, however Jack Perkins ($90,000 underslot) looks to be an interesting pitching option for their system and losing out on tenth rounder Brock Rodden ended up solving their money problem relatively easily.
Early Round Demographics
It’s evident the A’s value college hitters at the top, particularly ones that have shown the ability to put the bat on the ball with at least some promise of power. I’m not saying this is necessarily their thought process, but after they take a “safer” college bat or two early, it seems they get a bit more toolsy to shoot for upside in later rounds. Plenty of those players haven’t worked out just yet, but because they were able to secure a nice floor of talent, their system isn’t totally disparate. The aforementioned Thomas and Bolte are two of their best prospects at present, and both fit into that “toolsy” demographic that had some concerns about their hit tool. The prep picks they’ve made early represent some increased appetite for risk as well, however they’ve stayed diligent in balancing this risk out in the first handful of rounds with proven college performers. It’s not exactly rocket science, but it’s proved to pay dividends for the Athletics.
Late Round Demographics
While many teams prefer to focus on arms in the later rounds, the A’s have shown a willingness to invest in position players more frequently and have found some hidden gems because of it. The aforementioned Simpson and Nankil were both nice finds in the middle to late rounds despite neither one of those players playing a premium position in college, a trend that’s held relatively steady with the A’s in later rounds. Positional versatility down the line doesn’t appear to be a priority here; If they’re comfortable with your offensive profile and feel you can produce at the plate, they’ll figure out the defensive home for you down the line.
Names to Know
Devin Taylor, Indiana OF - One of the best pure hitters in this class, Taylor fits the bill of what the A’s have coveted at the top of the draft.
Marek Houston, Wake Forest SS - The offensive profile is still developing, but it’s shown enough promise to think he could be a high contact player with plus defensive abilities and fringy power.
Andrew Fischer, Tennessee INF - This might be a bit rich for Fischer at pick eleven, but he’s got one of the better all around offensive profiles in college baseball. Maybe an underslot deal here frees up some cash for round two.
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