http://www.baseballamerica.com/today...

26. Athletics. Oakland is expected to jump on Mills, arguably the best college hitter in the draft, if he is available here. The Athletics also would consider Simmons and Roemer, and possibly Rice lefthander Joe Savery, Oklahoma State outfielder Corey Brown and Mississippi shortstop Zack Cozart.

Projected Pick: Beau Mills, 3b/1b, Lewis-Clark State (Idaho).

Billy Owens of the A's front office, talking with Marty Lurie, just said they're looking at college guys for their top picks, and looking more at the "high school high ceiling types" in the later rounds.

Of course this is probably just the disinformation Beane told him to spread.

it will be interesting to see if we do go after college guys early and high schoolers later on.

these might come in handy for finding info on drafted players.

sickels / minorleagueball:
http://www.minorleagueball.com/story...

baseball think factory:
http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/...

on MLB.Com, and on ESPN.com 360

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/draft/...

for your pick to come up? In about 3  hours from now (2pm PT?). I think ESPN will try to get the Yankees and Red Sox picks at after 5pm ET to bump their ratings.

Brickhaus: "I think this is the most noise I've heard Rays fans make in a crowd in years...."

Duke: "Rarely are all four Dray fans in the same city much less the same room."

that one of the projected top picks, Josh Vitters, has an older brother playing in the A's system?

It's kind of neat!

route, they have Steve Levy, Steve Phillips, and Peter at a table talking about the players, and then they talked to DAvid Price, with a Drays hat and Jersey on, and then they went back to the studio for more analysis.

I liked the Ichiro commercial, where he was throwing from Center Field, and they were calling pitches like he was on the mound.

Throw him on the mound, pronto.

Bastards.

suite at the stadium yet? lol

but we do.

sure like to get hometown boys, don't they?

...does the guy doing special comments on each pick on the MLB.com feed sound like Dave Foley?

Newsradio flashbacks... sigh.

I wish they'd do it as fast as last year, just televised. They can talk briefly about the player's position and mention some random facts about him between picks still. If you want more info on the players go to the mlb.com draft tracker thing. If I wasn't such a baseball fan I would be bored out of my mind.

I don't know a damn thing about him, but seems a good fit for us by the name alone.

We get a commercial before our pick.

drat

what do you mean it's been an hour and a half and the a's haven't picked yet?

this is why i liked the baseball draft and not the others...

There goes Aaron Poreda. A's are up. I think if they go with a pitcher it'll be James Simmons. I say he's the pick.

rhp from UC riverside.

info?

Billy loves the California boys

42 Simmons, James...  2.40  11-3; 116k, 15bb; .220 oba

I'd rather have the ball boy from CSUF.

is an Angels fan. poor him being drafted by the A's.

We went for a 'safe' choice? Come on. We better take something with some upside in the Supplemental rounds.

12 college pitchers taken,
14 HS pitchers taken.

Looks like most of the guys that went early (1-10)were college guys.

check out the 5/18/07 baseball america podcast. John Manual picks James Simmons as "his guy." Granted he only scouted the west and limited his favorites to that region, but still...

I think this is a good pick. The A's been very successful with "safe picks," so why not continue that trend? Plus, with all the high schoolers going early, Simmons fell to us (He was typically slotted as a late first rounder, usually going to the Pads at 22)

I'm sure we'll get higher risk/reward guys later. Remember, we have four before the third round.

people need to keep in mind is that Billy has taken some younger arms recently that are taking time to develop.  This makes sense in getting a pitcher that can get to the bigs a little faster and can ultimately be trade bait if the A's need it.

which, in spite of numerous surprises earlier in the round, matches Sickels' mock draft.

Time to go back to work now.

Low upside pitcher when what we some power potential somewhere in this system. 88-92 MPH fastball? Meh. That's really all the sentiment I can find. Meh. You can keep going safe nad hoping you'll churn out average major leaguers, and that'll get you a bunch of Cliff Penningtons and Jason Windsors and Bradley Sullivans and Brian Snyders and Jeremy Browns. I'm uninspired.

301/420/465/885 in the ACC; 7 jacks, 53 rbis.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/m...

Summary:
Doolittle has excellent hitting skills and should hit well for average as a pro. An athletic first baseman with good hands, his draft status may depend on how much power scouts think he will hit for at the next level. He's a safe, solid draft pick who should have a big-league future. He was a two-way player at Virginia, but most scouts see him as a hitter and not a pitcher.

"He has not been a huge power guy in college, but neither was Ryan Zimmerman at UVa.'s spacious home park. His ability to make solid contact has some thinking he has projectable power."

Sigh.

Dang.

Justin Jackson gone now, too (Toronto).  Those were the last ones I had an eye on.  Don't know who I want now.

and where can i hear the conference call, instead of the press feed?

Kyle Russell is still available.  Tons of power, not much else.

last name brown, right fielder?

Seems like it could be risky, but it's exactly the kind of thing we need to do to match up with clubs like Boston and Los Angeles. A guy with power potential, middle of the order potential. And Sickels likes him, too.

Looks to me like another case of taking good value that dropped lower than expected.

I know the supplemental round is over, but my information is not complete.

I see the Angels didn't take him, like I was guessing. Did anyone else?

Isn't there time enough to talk about the first round picks all fucking night long on ESPN?

Can they not talk a little about the guys being picked now? This is moronic.

Harvey?

An outfielder with a broken wrist.

how the A's love guys from the Big West conference. I feel like I actually know them already.

"Desme was a college bat on the rise before a broken wrist ended his season early. It’s not expected that his injury will have a huge impact on his draft status. A five-tool player, he could be one of the better college position players in the draft, especially considering the dearth of college offensive talent in this class."

Seems like there's potential there.

Desme has the potential to hit for average and makes adjustments, but struggles with good breaking stuff.

Five tools, scouts scared off because of a broken wrist, should heal and own.

Love this.

who projects as a utility man

Desme: played 50 games - 405/494/733/1227 at Cal Poly SLO against the Big West. 17 doubles, 15 jacks; OF, is a junior; 2nd team all-american by rivals.com; only hit 287 last year with 12 2bs, 8 jacks.

Horton: 333/445/544/989 at UNC against the ACC. 14 doubles, 8 jacks. SS, aka question mark. is a junior; hit 395 last year at UNC. 209 average on Cape Cod last summer...

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/m...

why do we want this guy?

Power: There is not much power in Horton's swing.
Running Speed: He's an average runner...
Arm Strength: The arm strength grades out as average, maybe a tick above.
Range: He's not the prototypical defender at short, and his speed doesn't play well in terms of range...
Weaknesses: There's little power and little to project. He doesn't necessarily wow you at short...

He was going to go to UVA util this....

The University has rescinded its offer of a scholarship to baseball recruit Corey Brown of Tampa, Fla., after he agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge of battery Monday.

In a statement released last night, the University attributed the scholarship's removal to Brown's "current personal circumstances."

This announcement comes only one day after Brown, a senior at Plant High School in Tampa, Fla., admitted he was among a group of four boys charged with third-degree felony battery, according to the Tampa Tribune. The charge stems from an incident on the night of Sept. 21, 2003, when the four friends allegedly had sex with the same 14-year-old girl in the back of a parked SUV, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

After the case was initially investigated as a "lewd and lascivious" act on a child, State Attorney Mark Ober and the defendants agreed to a plea bargain, whereby the boys would plead guilty to a battery charge in exchange for a probationary sentence requiring no jail time.

are they really doing 45 rounds tomorrow?

Samuel Demel

rhp closer for texas christian u.  

compared to huston street, although probably just a reliever and not a closer.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/m...

Hate the Horton pick.

RHP from UNC

http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/m...

1-1, 1.53; 14 saves; .191 oba; 56 k 19 bb; 47.0 ip.

reminds me of Huston in his description haha

smallish right handed closer with a bulldog mentality and excellent poise on the mound

are they doing today?

might be some signability issues down the line, so hopefully they've done their research, and the money's there. anything like smoak will not make a happy a's fan.

won't be around tomorrow to dig up info on our 38th round pick last last year, sorry.