2007 Oakland Athletics Prospects

2007 Oakland Athletics Prospects

1. Travis Buck, OF, Grade B+ (Ethier comparison looks valid to me)
   
2. Daric Barton, 1B, B (hurt by injury, but what about his power and defense?)
   
3. Matt Sulentic, OF, B (I really, really believe in his bat)
   
4. Jermaine Mitchell, OF, B- (good tools, speed, developing skills)
   
5. Kurt Suzuki, C, B- (a personal favorite)
   
6. Kevin Melillo, 2B, B- (I overrated him last year but I still think he will be a useful player)
   
7. Trevor Cahill, RHP, B- (Raw but projectable and promising)
   
8. Javier Herrera, OF, C+ (Injury casualty, great tools but skills?
   
9. Marcus McBeth, RHP, C+ (Needs a bit more polish but quite intriguing)
   
10. Jason Windsor, RHP, C+ (needs a bit more fastball but quite intriguing)
    
11. Jeff Baisley, 3B, C+ (will jump to Double-A in '07 and we'll find out if he is for real. I personally think he is)
    
12. Ryan Goleski, OF, C+ (assuming his wrist is OK)
    
13. Craig Italiano, RHP, C+ (immense potential if healthy)
    
14. Chad Lee, RHP, C+ (live arm from '06 draft)
    
15. Shane Keough, OF, C+ (good athlete from '06 draft, mom was in ZZ Top videos and Playboy)
    
16. Michael Mitchell, RHP, C+ (interesting reliever)
    
17. Cliff Pennington, INF, C+ (another injury casualty, I will cut him some slack)
    
18. Santiago Casilla, RHP, C (could still be useful bullpen arm)
    
19. Shane Komine, RHP, C (swingman type)
    
20. Richie Robnett, OF, C (great tools but skills haven't developed)

Others of Note: Andrew Bailey, RHP; Jeremy Brown, C; Scott Deal, RHP; Jay Marshall, LHP; Vincent Mazzaro, RHP; Dan Meyer, LHP; Scott Moore, RHP; Donnie Murphy, 2B; Landon Powell, C; Danny Putnam, OF; Jason Ray, RHP; Connor Robertson, RHP; Justin Sellers, SS; Vasili Spanos, 3B.

The Athletics In One Sentence: This system has thinned out, and it will be very interesting to see how they approach their draft strategy over the next year or two, if they continue to mix in high-ceiling high school types with the more polished collegians.

Injuries took a major toll on this system last year, impacting several players who could have earned higher grades if healthy.

ALL GRADES ARE PRELIMINARY. If you hate a grade, feel free to make a case for me to change it, though remember that cases phrased respectfully using logic and facts are more likely to be viewed positively than those featuring insults and invective.

There is a lot of slack in the B-/C+/C range and players may move up and down depending on how my thinking progresses. Feel free to make comments, point out sleepers I may have missed, etc. Note that there is only a limited amount of space in the book, and the max I can do is 35-36 players per team.

And, as always, there is the helpful reminder to Buy My Book, which will lay out reports for all these guys (and more) in detail.