A's finished up their draft by taking three local kids within the last six rounds: 2 from De La Salle and one from Bishop O'Dowd. Those drafts are pretty much courtesy drafts and highly unlikely to sign. However, you never know when someone may surprisingly choose to sign, like Chris Bostick.
They didn't quite have as strong of a draft as last year but it was still very solid nonetheless, especially day 2 (rounds 3-10). On day two they were able to grab a top 100 player, according to Jonathan Mayo, until their 8th round pick. They went with signable LHP college seniors with their round 9 and 10 picks, possibly with the intent of signing them to well below slot deal as to save money for Dustin Driver (round 7 pick) who's a HS RHP committed to UCLA. Those kind of commitments that late in the draft tend to be tough to break unless you can pay them Day 1 type money (1st and 2nd round in this case). They focused a lot more on pitching this year than last year, taking pitchers with 8 of 12 top ten round picks. As the old saying goes "you can never have enough pitching."
Best values in the top 10 rounds: Dylan Covey (4th round), Bobby Wahl (5th round), and Dustin Driver (7th round). Kyle Finnegan was a good pick but he's a relief prospect through and through, although like Nolan Sanburn, he'll most likely be sent out as a starter to begin his career.
From rounds 11-40, there's no technical cap, but anything paid over $100,000 goes towards the team's assigned bonus pool for rounds 1-10. There they were able to nab a quality relief prospect who dropped due to injury concerns, AJ Vanegas. His fastball can run up to 98 and he has a hard slider. They also drafted SS Edwin Diaz from Puerto Rico a year after drafting and signing a player from Puerto Rico for the first time. Dakota Freese is an interesting prospect, however you'll hate who's delivery his has been compared to: Tim Lincecum.
Here's a list of A's picks (if you want more information and videos, click here for the draft tracker). I'll cross each name out as they're announced to sign. I'll also try and link to videos of players that sign.
14-431 | Lomangino, James | St. Johns (NY) | RHP | R/R | ||||
19-581 | Vanegas, A.J. | Stanford (CA) | RHP | R/R | ||||
20-611 | Akau, Iolana | Saint Louis School (HI) | C | R/R | ||||
35-1061 | Puckett, A.J. | De La Salle HS (CA) | RHP | R/R | ||||
36-1091 | Goldby, Cooper | Yuba City HS (CA) | C | R/R | ||||
37-1121 | Christy, Francis | Casa Grande HS (CA) | C | L/R | ||||
38-1151 | Mercado-Hood, Hunter | De La Salle HS (CA) | OF | L/R | ||||
39-1181 | Howard, Hayden | Seward County CC (KS) | LHP | R/L | ||||
40-1211
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Miroglio, Dominic | Bishop O'Dowd School (CA) | C | R/R |
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