clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

87% of Oakland A’s fans approve of Logan Davidson as 1st-round draft pick

The A’s chose the Clemson shortstop with the 29th overall pick.

By Alex Hall

Welcome to SB Nation FanPulse, a survey of fans across MLB. Each week, we send 30 polls to plugged in fans from each team. A’s fans, click HERE to learn more and join FanPulse.

A’s fans were asked on Tuesday if they approved of the team’s 1st-round draft pick, and the result was a strong yes. The final tally was 87% approval.

After winning 97 games last season, the A’s had to wait until No. 29 overall for their first pick in this summer’s MLB draft on Monday. They used that selection on Logan Davidson, a shortstop from Clemson University. He doesn’t have a standout tool, but he’s strong in most areas across the board.

Davidson isn’t without his flaws. There are questions about his Hit tool, as well as his ability to hit with wood bats after struggling in summer leagues during college. But there’s only so much you can ask for this low in the 1st round, and the fans mostly agreed that there’s plenty to like about Davidson with this pick. After all, MLB Pipeline had him at No. 22 on their pre-draft big board. And he’s a baseball player, which is a step up from last year.

Here’s more about the A’s whole 2019 draft class:

Looking around the rest of the league, 16 other fanbases gave their teams higher than 87% approval for their 1st-round pick. On the other hand, 26 other teams had a higher pick (two teams picked twice before the A’s), so relatively speaking 17th isn’t a bad ranking in terms of fan confidence.

Fans were also asked the two usual weekly questions about the current A’s season, and the results didn’t change too much from last time.

  • Confidence in direction of team: 85% (down from 93%)
  • Confidence in manager: 93% (same as previous week)

The A’s had a rough week. After a long winning streak had fully restored the fans’ confidence, Oakland turned around and lost five straight games at home, including a couple in heartbreaking fashion. However, to their credit, the fans stayed resilient amid the setback, and now they’ve been rewarded for their fAith with three wins in four games since the survey was taken.

Meanwhile, everyone still loves manager Bob Melvin. As they should. His approval rating ranks 10th in MLB.

National question: Netting

The national question for this week asked about the protective netting used at MLB stadiums. The majority of fans agreed that the netting should not just be for behind the plate, but rather should extend all the way out to each foul pole.

Personally I voted no on this. I’m usually a huge safety advocate, but this seems like an excessive overcorrection to a problem that doesn’t really exist. I’m sure that more than zero people have probably been hurt by foul balls into the stands, and I don’t mean to trivialize any instances where it’s happened, but (correct me if I missed something) it’s not exactly an epidemic around the league.

More From Athletics Nation