MLB Draft 2022: Oakland A’s select Clark Elliott with No. 69 overall pick

The Oakland A’s selected Clark Elliott in the Competitive Balance B Round of the 2022 MLB Draft on Sunday, with the No. 69 overall pick. The 21-year-old is a left-handed hitting outfielder from the University of Michigan.

MLB Pipeline had Elliott ranked 64th on their pre-draft board, with the following scouting report:

Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 50 | Run: 60 | Arm: 50 | Field: 55 | Overall: 50

After a decent first full season at Michigan last spring, Elliott was one of the biggest breakout performers in the Cape Cod League. He led the prestigious summer circuit in batting (.344) and on-base percentage (.464) while getting a chance to play center field after manning right field for the Wolverines. He should become their fourth outfielder taken in the top three rounds since 2019, following Jordan Brewer, Jordan Nwogu and Jesse Franklin.

There’s little debate about Elliott’s ability to hit quality fastballs, work counts and make line-drive contact from the left side of the plate, but there’s split opinion about how many home runs he’ll provide. His biggest believers think he’ll grow into average power and see some parallels between him and Michael Brantley, while others point to his .405 slugging percentage in his first two years at Michigan and low exit velocities with wood bats and see below-average pop. He did increase his home run output from five to 16 and his slugging percentage from .428 to .630 from 2021 to 2022.

There aren’t many quibbles with the rest of Elliott’s game and he draws praise for his makeup as well. His speed earns grades from solid to well above-average and plays better on the bases and in the outfield than it does out of the batter’s box. He may not man center for the Wolverines but showed enough quickness and range on the Cape for most scouts to believe he can as a pro, and his average arm should allow him to fit anywhere in the outfield.

Baseball America ranked him 105th on their own board, with this report:

Tools: Hit: 50. Power: 45. Run: 55. Field: 50. Arm: 50.

Elliott’s swing is a bit unorthodox. He starts with a sizable leg kick and has a flat bat path with a pull-side approach. Elliott has been able to crush pitches up in the zone with that path, but there’s a slight hole on the outer third and he swings and misses at a solid clip against breaking and offspeed pitches. He has hammered fastballs and done well against velocity with solid bat speed, and he rarely expands the zone with a career 16% walk rate.

The 6-foot, 185-pound outfielder has average tools across the board—though he will turn in solid home-to-first run times—and is likely a corner outfielder at the next level after mostly playing right field in college.

Brian Sakowski of Perfect Game USA added these notes:

“Huge performer in ‘22 with big power gains, plus athlete/runner who played RF for UM but could profile in CF, dude can really hit, power coming on makes this more enticing, love this for Oakland.”

Welcome to the A’s!