— Oakland Athletics (@Athletics) August 20, 2012
#Athletics reinstate Brett Anderson from the DL; option Dan Straily to Sacramento; designate Anthony Recker for assignment.
This week, the A’s top draft pick of 2012, shortstop Addison Russell, got his second promotion in the last two months, when the 18-year-old was elevated to Burlington, the A’s Class-A affiliate in the Midwest League. This just highlighted the level of talent the A’s acquired in this year’s draft. And since most of these new prospects have been playing in the system for a couple of months now, this week I prepared a little progress report on the A’s top 20 draft picks of 2012 for my Athletics Farm blog. It proved to be a very popular post, so I decided to share it here today, with updated stats through games of Sunday, August 19th. So check out all the good news here on Athletics Nation right after the jump…
Thanks to the loss of free agent outfielders Josh Willingham and David DeJesus, the A’s had a few more picks than usual in the upper ranks of this June’s amateur draft – 5 of the first 75 picks to be exact. And the team used a number of those picks to target high school players this year, something that’s been uncommon for the organization in the past.
Well, it’s now been about 8 weeks since most of those players began playing for either the A’s short-season rookie-ball Arizona League A’s or the Vermont Lake Monsters of the short-season Class-A NY-Penn League. One of the A’s draftees, 21-year-old first baseman Max Muncy out of Baylor, has actually started out playing for the A’s Class-A affiliate in the Midwest League, the Burlington Bees. And 4 of the A’s top 20 picks went unsigned – the most prominent being promising 3rd-round left-hander Kyle Twomey.
With most of the players who chose to sign having almost 2 months of play under their belts now, it seems like a good time to check in for a little progress report on the new kids down on the farm. And the good news is that most of them have been looking awfully good so far. #1 pick Addison Russell has been hitting for both average and power, #2 pick Daniel Robertson and #7 pick B.J. Boyd have both shown a knack for getting on base consistently and #3 pick Matt Olson has demonstrated the ability to hit for real power, while pitchers like Austin House and Dakota Bacus have shown the ability to strike out more than a batter per inning and keep runners off base.
You’ll find the A’s top 20 draft picks of 2012 along with their vital stats through August 19 listed below. All the teams they’ve played for so far this season are noted, with the team they’ve appeared in the most games for listed first and the team they’re currently with in bold…
#1
Addison Russell
(1st Round – Age 18 – Shortstop - AZL A’s+Vermont+Burlington)
7 HR / 19 BB / 39 K / .380 AVG / .448 OBP / .632 SLG / 1.080 OPS
#2
Daniel Robertson
(1st Round – Age 18 – Third Baseman – AZL A’s+Vermont)
5 HR / 19 BB / 27 K / .284 AVG / .383 OBP / .515 SLG / .898 OPS
#3
Matt Olson
(1st Round – Age 18 – First Baseman – AZL A’s)
7 HR / 16 BB / 41 K / .295 AVG / .363 OBP / .550 SLG / .913 OPS
#4
Bruce Maxwell
(2nd Round – Age 21 – Catcher – Vermont+AZL A’s)
0 HR / 24 BB / 27 K / .301 AVG / .380 OBP / .388 SLG / .768 OPS
#5
Nolan Sanburn
(2nd Round – Age 21 – Pitcher – Vermont)
8 IP / 5 H / 2 ER / 2 BB / 8 K / 2.25 ERA / 0.88 WHIP
#6
Kyle Twomey
(3rd Round – Age 18 – Pitcher)
UNSIGNED
#7
B.J. Boyd
(4th Round – Age 19 – Outfielder – AZL A’s)
1 HR / 19 BB / 33 K / .318 AVG / .405 OBP / .450 SLG / .855 OPS
#8
Max Muncy
(5th Round – Age 21 – First Baseman - Burlington)
4 HR / 28 BB / 28 K / .246 AVG / .349 OBP / .391 SLG / .740 OPS
#9
Seth Streich
(6th Round – Age 21 – Pitcher - Vermont+AZL A’s)
26 2/3 IP / 16 H / 9 ER / 13 BB / 35 K / 3.04 ERA / 1.09 WHIP
#10
Cody Kurz
(7th Round – Age 19 – Pitcher - AZL A’s)
19 IP / 15 H / 6 ER / 25 BB / 9 K / 2.84 ERA / 2.11 WHIP
#11
Kris Hall
(8th Round – Age 21 – Pitcher - Vermont+AZL A’s)
29 1/3 IP / 18 H / 4 ER / 15 BB / 27 K / 1.23 ERA / 1.13 WHIP
#12
Dakota Bacus
(9th Round – Age 21 – Pitcher - AZL A’s)
24 2/3 IP / 12 H / 4 ER / 4 BB / 27 K / 1.46 ERA / 0.65 WHIP
#13
Brett Vertigan
(10th Round – Age 21 – Outfielder - Vermont)
0 HR / 21 BB / 23 K / .243 AVG / .324 OBP / .314 SLG / .637 OPS
#14
Alex Gonzalez
(11th Round – Age 18 – Shortstop)
UNSIGNED
#15
John Caputo
(12th Round – Age 18 – Third Baseman)
UNSIGNED
#16
Stuart Pudenz
(13th Round – Age 21 – Pitcher - Vermont+AZL A’s)
24 2/3 IP / 17 H / 8 ER / 7 BB / 30 K / 2.92 ERA / 0.97 WHIP
#17
Austin House
(14th Round – Age 21 – Pitcher - Vermont)
24 1/3 IP / 12 H / 3 ER / 10 BB / 33 K / 1.11 ERA / 0.90 WHIP
#18
Vince Voiro
(15th Round – Age 22 – Pitcher - AZL A’s)
31 1/3 IP / 30 H / 13 ER / 8 BB / 34 K / 3.73 ERA / 1.21 WHIP
#19
Melvin Mercedes
(16th Round – Age 20 – Second Baseman - AZL A’s)
0 HR / 8 BB / 8 K / .378 AVG / .446 OBP / .500 SLG / .946 OPS
#20
Tyler Olson
(17th Round – Age 22 – Pitcher)
UNSIGNED
TOP HITTERS
Addison Russell (1st Round – Age 18 – Shortstop - AZL A’s+Vermont+Burlington)
7 HR / 19 BB / 39 K / .380 AVG / .448 OBP / .632 SLG / 1.080 OPS
Daniel Robertson (1st Round – Age 18 – Third Baseman – AZL A’s+Vermont)
5 HR / 19 BB / 27 K / .284 AVG / .383 OBP / .515 SLG / .898 OPS
Matt Olson (1st Round – Age 18 – First Baseman – AZL A’s)
7 HR / 16 BB / 41 K / .295 AVG / .363 OBP / .550 SLG / .913 OPS
B.J. Boyd (4th Round – Age 19 – Outfielder – AZL A’s)
1 HR / 19 BB / 33 K / .318 AVG / .405 OBP / .450 SLG / .855 OPS
TOP PITCHERS
Austin House (14th Round – Age 21 – Pitcher - Vermont)
24 1/3 IP / 12 H / 3 ER / 10 BB / 33 K / 1.11 ERA / 0.90 WHIP
Kris Hall (8th Round – Age 21 – Pitcher - Vermont+AZL A’s)
29 1/3 IP / 18 H / 4 ER / 15 BB / 27 K / 1.23 ERA / 1.13 WHIP
Dakota Bacus (9th Round – Age 21 – Pitcher - AZL A’s)
24 2/3 IP / 12 H / 4 ER / 4 BB / 27 K / 1.46 ERA / 0.65 WHIP
Nolan Sanburn (2nd Round – Age 21 – Pitcher – Vermont)
8 IP / 5 H / 2 ER / 2 BB / 8 K / 2.25 ERA / 0.88 WHIP
You can check out my blog - Athletics Farm - for daily updates on the A’s minor league teams and all the top prospects down on the farm.
