Oakland Athletics 2019 MLB Draft Report Card

Image credit: Logan Davidson (Photo by Bill Mitchell)

Every year at the conclusion of the regular season, Baseball America revisits each teams’ most recent draft class. Each class has its no-doubt, high-profile names to keep an eye on, but our annual draft report cards highlight the best tools, best debuts, late-round steals and more. Here are the names you need to know from every organization’s 2019 draft.

You can see the full Oakland Athletics 2019 draft class here. Find all of our 2019 draft report cards here.

Best Pure Hitter: The quality of SS Logan Davidson’s (1) hit tool was always the biggest question heading into the draft, as he showed some swing-and-miss issues and never hit above .300 at Clemson, but he has the power and speed to become a solid offensive player even if he’s never a plus hitter. OF Marcus Smith (3) has a chance to be an above-average hitter.

Best Power Hitter: The Athletics drafted C Kyle McCann (4) because of his powerful bat. He’s got easy 60-grade raw power from the left side and some scouts have put a 70 on it. He’ll need to make more contact in the future to regularly tap into his power at the pro level. He hit nine home runs in the Arizona and New York-Penn leagues in a 60-game pro debut.

Fastest Runner: At his best, Smith is 70-grade runner who uses that speed in the outfield, where he’s a plus defender. His wheels haven’t yet translated to base stealing prowess, as he went just 1-for-2 in stolen base attempts through 29 games in the Rookie-level Arizona League.

Best Defensive Player: Smith would be a candidate for best defensive player as well thanks to his athleticism in the outfield, but Davidson has athleticism, above-average speed and a plus arm at shortstop. He’s got a big frame—6-foot-3, 185 pounds—but that’s becoming more typical of the position at the big league level.

Best Athlete: Smith and Davidson both have cases for this category, though Smith might edge out the first-round pick for his standout athleticism, which should translate to a number of impressive plays in the outfield.

Best Fastball: RHP Tyler Baum (2) has a plus fastball that typically sits in the 91-94 mph range throughout starts, but he can ratchet the pitch into the upper 90s at any point if he needs the extra velocity.

Best Secondary Pitch: Baum also has an impressive curveball, a sharp offering in the 79-81 mph range that has tight, 11-to-5 shape and could become a plus offering with more consistency.

Best Pro Debut: Smith hit .361/.466/.443 with 20 walks, 29 strikeouts and six doubles in the Arizona League as an 18-year-old. 1B/3B Dustin Harris (11) played in the Arizona and New York Penn leagues and excelled in both. The St. Petersburg (Fla.) JC product hit .325/.403/.407 across both leagues with 25 walks and 39 strikeouts.

Most Intriguing Background: Davidson’s father, Mark Davidson, played in the majors for six years with the Twins and the Astros.

Closest To The Majors: Baum will need to improve his consistency from outing to outing, but he has the stuff and enough strike-throwing ability to be a quick-mover. While he has a chance to start, the A’s could speed up his timeline if they wanted to push him as a reliever, and he has the pure stuff for that role as well.

Best Late-Round Pick: Oakland has done a solid job developing position players and it’ll be interesting to see what they do with Harris, who is a strong corner infielder with impressive feel to hit. His bat is his carrying tool, but he’ll need to put in the work to give himself a chance to play third base full time. Most of his innings came as a first baseman in his debut season.

The One Who Got Away: The Athletics only failed to sign three players in their 2019 draft class: C Ty Duvall (25), RHP Will Jensen (28) and OF Derek Lee (39).