Elephant Rumblings: MLB completes 2020 draft; AL West roundup

Good morning, Athletics Nation!

The 2020 MLB draft is now in the books, although it only featured five rounds this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. There were a total of 160 picks, with 123 of them occurring on Day 2 in Rounds 2-5. Four of those Thursday picks went to the Oakland A’s, and you can check out the links below for more info on the players they selected — all four of them from the college ranks, after gambling on a high schooler in the 1st round on Wednesday.

As for the rest of the league’s picks, let’s take a quick look at the A’s competition in the AL West division. The Mariners led the way with six picks, followed by the Rangers with five. The Angels lost their 2nd-rounder due to signing star free agent Anthony Rendon, while the Astros lost their first two selections as punishment for their cheating scandal and then gained a new one (post-2nd round) after losing pitcher Gerrit Cole to free agency.

Click each team header for that club’s MLB Draft Tracker, where you can read scouting reports for most of these prospects.

Angels

• 1st: Reid Detmers, LHP, Louisville (No. 10 overall pick)
• 3rd: David Calabrese, OF, high school (Canada)
• 4th: Werner Blakely, SS, high school (MI)
• 5th: Adam Seminaris, LHP, Long Beach State

Astros

• Comp: Alex Santos, RHP, high school (NY) (No. 72 overall pick)
• 3rd: Ty Brown, RHP, Vanderbilt
• 4th: Zach Daniels, OF, Tennessee
• 5th: Shay Whitcomb, SS, UC San Diego

Mariners

• 1st: Emerson Hancock, RHP, Georgia (No. 6 overall pick)
• 2nd: Zach DeLoach, OF, Texas A&M
• CBB: Connor Phillips, RHP, McClennan CC
• 3rd: Kaden Polcovich, 2B, Oklahoma State
• 4th: Tyler Keenan, 3B, Ole Miss
• 5th: Taylor Dollard, RHP, Cal Poly

Rangers

• 1st: Justin Foscue, 2B, Mississippi State (No. 14 overall pick)
• 2nd: Evan Carter, OF, high school (TN)
• 3rd: Tekoah Roby, RHP, high school (FL)
• 4th: Dylan MacLean, LHP, high school (OR)
• 5th: Thomas Saggese, SS, high school (CA)

A’s

• 1st: Tyler Soderstrom, C, high school (CA) (No. 26 overall pick)
• 2nd: Jeff Criswell, RHP, Michigan
• 3rd: Michael Guldberg, OF, Georgia Tech
• 4th: Dane Acker, RHP, Oklahoma
• 5th: Stevie Emanuels, RHP, Washington

The Angels, Mariners, and Rangers all took college players with their top picks, though the Angels and Rangers both leaned heavily on the high school ranks after that — the complete opposite of what the A’s did. The Mariners went all college, with a mix of pitchers and hitters. For more on Santos, the Astros’ top pick, here’s a writeup from Lindsey Adler of The Athletic.

It will be years before we know how these draft classes pan out, and we’ll have to wait even longer than normal just to get our first look since the minors will probably be canceled entirely this summer. But just seeing them get picked at all meant we got to watch a baseball thing this week, and that was fun.

A’s Draft:

• Lockard: A’s go the college route on Day 2 of the draft and bolster their pitching depth ($$$)
• Slusser: A’s pick versatile Michigan righty Jeff Criswell, son of former Oakland prospect ($)
• Hickey: Athletics 2nd-Round Pick Criswell Exits Michigan With a Flourish
• Hickey: Has a Mini Field of Dreams Helped Develop the Athletics Next Star?
• Gallegos: Michigan righty Criswell headlines A’s Day 2
• Hall: A’s select Jeff Criswell with No. 58 overall pick
• Hall: A’s select Michael Guldberg with No. 98 overall pick
• Hall: A’s select Dane Acker with No. 127 overall pick
• Hall: A’s select Stevie Emanuels with No. 157 overall pick

A’s Non-Draft Coverage:

• Carig: Bonanza or bust: The Four Aces of Oakland’s 1990 draft ($$$)

MLB Draft, News, & Interest:

• MLB Pipeline: Experts’ favorite [non-1st-round] Draft pick for all 30 teams
• Rosenbaum: Draft Day 2: Pick-by-pick rundown, analysis
• Rivera: Alex Cora: Astros’ sign stealing wasn’t two-man show
• Todd: Baseball’s Most Interesting Upcoming Free Agent? (it’s Simmons)
• Today in Baseball History

Best of Twitter:

So, same offer as all the rest, and still not really trying to make an actual deal. Just wasting more time that we could be watching baseball.

... And why my hurry to get started? Ravech touches on the subject (though I was thinking more the full-on second wave this fall/winter).

Some brief video of 1st-round pick Tyler Soderstrom