College Splits: Oakland A's 2010 Draft Recap

Oakland A's 2010 Draft Recap

June 11, 2010

Michael Choice spawned an earlier THT piece of his own where we dug into small college walk rates. Walks or no walks, 2010 was clearly Choice's coming out party (+32 Offensive Runs Above Average this season, after posting +10 in both 2009 and 2008). Average defense in center field over his college career (based on our play-by-play metrics) should allow him to stay away from being pegged for left field in the minors, and adding an additional few runs per season on the base paths each season is just gravy.

Oakland returned to its college-drafting ways in Round 6 by nabbing Kansas infielder Tony Thompson, a player Big XII pitchers surely will not miss (Thompson posted a 1.062 OPS in-conference this season and a .644 OPS against non-conference teams).

They took consecutive San Diego Toreros with pick 365 Matt Thomson (who hasn’t had a K-rate under 10 vs. RHH the last two years) and pick 395 A.J. Griffin, who comfortably settled into the role of full-time starter his senior season, posting a K/BB ratio of nearly 6 vs. right-handed batters.

32nd round pick Todd McInnis will simply not let left-handed batters get any loft on the ball, as he’s forced them into twice as many groundball outs as flyball outs the last two seasons, and his home rate per nine innings was precisely .50 vs. lefties in 2010.

Draft Class Breakdown

Here's a general idea of who they took, and where they got 'em. To compare to other teams and MLB averages, check out this post at THT Live.

  Pos    4YR  JC  HS  Total  
  RHP     14   1   3     18  
  LHP      5   0   1      6  
  C        3   0   1      4  
  1B       1   0   1      2  
  2B       2   0   0      2  
  3B       3   1   3      7  
  SS       1   0   2      3  
  CF       1   1   3      5  
  RF       1   0   0      1  
  OF       0   1   1      2  
  Total   31   4  15

Splits for A's Draftees

10 - Michael Choice, University of Texas - Arlington

60 - Yordy Cabrera, Lakeland Senior HS (FL)

92 - Aaron Shipman, Brooks County HS (GA)

125 - Chad Lewis, Marina HS (CA)

155 - Tyler Vail, Notre Dame HS (PA)

185 - Anthony Thompson, Kansas

215 - Jordan Tripp, Golden West College

245 - Blake Hassebrock, UNC - Greensboro

275 - Antwoin Kirby-Jones, Tennessee Tech U

305 - Joshua Bowman, University of Tampa

335 - Wade Kirkland, Florida Southern Col