by Bill Moriarity / A’s Farm Editor
June 17, 2020
(photo: Kyle Terada)
The man responsible for overseeing the A’s efforts in the amateur draft is scouting director Eric Kubota. Kubota started out his career in the baseball world by interning for the A’s in the mid-‘80s, and he eventually served as the assistant director of scouting and the supervisor of international scouting before succeeding Grady Fuson as scouting director following Fuson’s departure after the 2001 season.
In past years, we’ve talked with Kubota about top picks like Addison Russell in 2012, Billy McKinney in 2013, Matt Chapman in 2014, Richie Martin in 2015, A.J. Puk in 2016 and Austin Beck in 2017. And this year, we were eager to get his insights on #1 pick Tyler Soderstrom as well as the A’s other four picks from the 2020 draft. We also took the opportunity to ask him about the unusual nature of scouting and preparing for this year’s draft.
We spoke with Kubota the week after the draft, just shortly after the period to sign undrafted amateur free agents had begun…
AF: We wanted to get your take on this year’s A’s draft class but, first, with all the unusual circumstances going on this year, just how different was the whole process of scouting and prepping for the draft this year?
EK: Yeah, it was very odd in every aspect really. When things shut down in the middle of March until the draft, things couldn’t have been any different than our normal process. I mean, not being able to scout guys in person, not being able to meet with our scouts in person, not being able to be really together for the draft – it was a very small group of us that were socially distanced in our office. So, it was just weird all around.
AF: I’m sure it was. Well, one way or another, everybody had to find a way to get the job done. I’m sure, with a lot of your area scouts, it wasn’t like they were just starting to look at these guys for the first time. I’m sure a lot of these guys they’d been following since high school.
EK: Yeah, for sure. I mean, the area scouts start seeing these guys two, three, four years ago in the worst-case scenario. And even the cross-checkers and myself, we get to see so much of these guys nowadays in the summer prior to the draft. Basically, now, we’re thinking about getting ready for 2021. So, we see these guys a lot these days, and that certainly helped us going into the draft this year.
AF: Well, even though he was a high school player, I’m assuming that you guys probably got plenty of looks at your first-round pick, catcher Tyler Soderstrom out of Turlock, since he wasn’t too far a drive away.
EK: Yeah.
AF: Were you surprised when he was available to you, or did you have a sense he might be available to you? And what did you guys really like about him enough to want to make him your first-round pick?
EK: Yeah, we were surprised. We knew that there were some teams way up in the draft that really liked him. And then we were surprised when he skated through the middle part of that draft to get to us. We knew there were a lot of teams in that range that liked him. But what we like about Tyler, first and foremost, is the bat. We really, really think this is a chance to develop into a special bat, both as far as hitting for average and hitting for power. Once again, like I said, we saw him a lot, and it just makes a different sound coming off his bat. And we’re really excited to see where that takes him.
AF: I know he’s a catcher, and you drafted him as a catcher. But there’s been talk and speculation about whether he will he stick as a catcher. Does he have everything it takes to remain as a catcher? I know he’s played other positions as well. So, can you talk a little bit about how you view his catching skills and his ability to stick there? Also, even if he does stick at catcher, it never hurts to be a little versatile, and I know he has played other positions, so what do you think his second-best position might be?
EK: Yeah, well, first and foremost, we do think he’s a catcher. He thinks of himself as a catcher, and that’s more than half the battle when you’re talking about catchers. But we think all the ingredients are there to be an above-average defender behind the plate. He’s athletic, he’s got good hands, he’s got a good head on his shoulders. We’ve talked to Daulton Jefferies, who throws to him at their facility, and Daulton talks about his mentality just being ahead of his years. There’s plenty of arm strength. So, we think all the ingredients are there to be a very, very good defensive catcher. At the same time, he is athletic, and we have seen him play other positions. Like you said, it’s never a bad thing to be versatile in today’s game but, first and foremost, we definitely see him as a catcher.
AF: Yeah, it seems like he’s really eager to catch, though it sounds like he’s been willing to play pretty much any position. I think he even had a few games at shortstop in high school, so he must be pretty athletic, like you said.
EK: Yeah, he definitely is. And he would be able to play lots of different places on the field, but first and foremost, once again, we see him as a catcher.
AF: Right. Well, there’s certainly nothing more valuable than a good-hitting young catcher these days. Now in the second round, you took a guy out of the University of Michigan. You went with your first pitcher of the draft, right-hander Jeff Criswell. What really impressed you about him? What made you want to take him there with that pick in the second round and make him your top pitcher in the draft?
EK: Well, he’s physical, he’s very physical. He throws really hard, and he’s got a really good breaking ball. We’ve seen him obviously over the years. He pitched very well for Michigan in their run to the College World Series last year, where we got to see a lot of him. We saw him with Team USA last summer, and then we did get to see him obviously this spring. I mean, it’s his physicality, arm strength and a very good breaking ball.
AF: I know he throws hard, like you said, and I know he’s had a tendency to be a little wild sometimes. Maybe his control isn’t perfect, he could work on his command a little more, but he throws very hard. Is that the kind of thing you’re looking to work on with him once he gets into the system, developing a little more command of that really impressive stuff he throws?
EK: Yeah, we think he’s actually a pretty good strike thrower. But I think every pitcher, when they get into the minor leagues, the defining factor in most cases is command. And just like everybody else, that’s something that we will continue to fine tune with him, and we have every expectation that will develop and he’ll move quickly through the system.
AF: Well, it certainly looks like he’s got the raw stuff to work with. Do you have a comp for him? Is there anyone he reminds you of?
EK: I kind of thought of Jason Schmidt. Maybe that’s just me being a northern Cal guy and having seen him over the years, but that’s kind of what came to mind for me.
AF: And what about your first pick, Tyler Soderstrom? I know he’s very young, but did he remind you of any major leaguers in particular?
EK: Yeah, I think as far as the profile, he kind of reminds us of Brian McCann but, as a hitter, and these are both Braves actually, or they were both Braves at the same time, as a hitter, he kind of maybe reminds us of Freddie Freeman.
AF: Oh, interesting. Well, that’s a good combination – I’ll take that!
EK: Yeah.
AF: In the third round, you guys went with a college outfielder, Michael Guldberg out of Georgia Tech. And of all the guys you took in the draft, I feel like he was a little more under the radar than everybody else. Most draft analysts had a little less information available on him. So, can you tell me what made him pop for you and what made you want to take him there in the third round?
EK: Yeah, well, our area scout in that area, Jemel Spearman, loved Michael Guldberg. He was very thorough in his evaluation and his research. He made sure that we knew that he liked him and, because of that, we scouted him very thoroughly. Even in the short period of time that we had, we scouted him a lot. And we think he’s got a chance to be a really good player. He can really run. He’s a right-handed hitter with a history of hitting, high contact rates. And we do think, even though he was not playing center field at Georgia Tech, we think he easily moves into center field in professional baseball.
AF: Yeah, I know you guys look at him as a center fielder. I know he’s played a lot of other positions around the diamond as well, so he’s another guy who sounds like he could have some versatility and some options anyway, which always helps. And as a hitter, he looks to me kind of like a classic number-two hitter. Is that how you look at him too?
EK: I’m not sure we really pinned him down into a role. But thinking about that, yeah, I could see him fitting in that kind of role. I could see him fitting maybe at the top of the order as well.
AF: Is there anyone that he reminds you of in particular?
EK: What came to mind for me was Chad Curtis. All of my comps you’ll see are going back a number of years because that’s kind of my formative years watching baseball or being in the game of baseball – that’s kind of lodged in my brain. So, I kind of had Chad Curtis there.
AF: Okay, let’s take a look at your fourth-round pick, right-hander Dane Acker out of the University of Oklahoma. The thing that always comes up about him is he threw that no-hitter earlier in the year against LSU, which I’m sure got plenty of people’s attention. But what did you like about Dane Acker?
EK: Well, I was there for the no-hitter, so I definitely liked that! But we think he can really pitch. We think his stuff is really average across the board right now, I mean, it’s a four-pitch mix. He’s got a projectable body, and we actually think there’s more fastball and more development left to his stuff across the board.
AF: Yeah, he seems like the kind of guy to me that’s more of a pitcher than a thrower. He’s got a lot of pitches. He seems to have pretty good command. He maybe doesn’t throw the heat like everybody else, but he seems to really know what he’s doing on the mound.
EK: Yeah, that’s true. And we do think there’s more fastball there. As he continues to mature physically, we think he’ll throw harder down the road.
AF: And do you have a comp for Dane Acker at all?
EK: Once again, I’m going back into the memory banks, but I thought a little bit of Aaron Sele.
AF: Oh, Aaron Sele, I remember that name. Yeah, he was a good one. That’s interesting though that you were there for that no-hitter. What were you thinking as you were watching that? Were you sitting there thinking, “This is a guy we might be putting fairly high on our draft board at this point?”
EK: Yeah, and it wasn’t just for the performance, which was great. He showed us everything that we had been told he would show us. He pitched very well in a high-profile situation against a very good team, so it was fun to watch. And it certainly stayed in our memory bank as we went through our process and kind of evaluated the names that were on our board.
AF: Yeah, no-hitting LSU – it’s not exactly a no-name university.
EK: Right.
AF: With your final pick in the fifth round, you took right-hander Stevie Emanuels out of the University of Washington. And he looks like a pretty promising young arm to be able to get in the fifth round there.
EK: Yeah, we’re excited about him. Once again, we think there’s a lot of upside left with Stevie. This was really his first year as a starting pitcher. He’d been a very good reliever at UW his first few years. We just think we’re kind of just seeing the tip of the iceberg here with Stevie.
AF: Yeah, like you mentioned, I believe he was primarily a reliever his first couple years of school, and then he just started out as a starting pitcher here in 2020 and only got to start about four games. But I think he had an ERA under 1.00 in those four games. So, he obviously must have been getting people’s attention and had them thinking, “Yeah, this guy could be a legit starter.”
EK: Right, and he had a lot of strikeouts too, which definitely caught our eye. We have no doubt he’s a starting pitcher as we move forward, and we’re excited to see what happens.
AF: Does he throw pretty hard as well? I think he’s got his fastball up there at a pretty good clip, right?
EK: Yeah, he does. He touches probably 94-95, but we think there’s actually more consistent velocity in there as he matures physically as well.
AF: Yeah, I think I saw he was 6’5″, so obviously he’s got a pretty big frame there to work with anyway.
EK: Right, right.
AF: Since the draft was only five rounds, there are a whole bunch of these undrafted amateur free agents still floating around out there that teams can sign. And I believe you guys have signed a couple of catchers and a couple of pitchers so far. So, first off, can you just tell me about the catchers that you signed?
EK: Yeah, one of the first guys was William Simoneit. He’s from Wake Forest University. He was actually a grad student. He played his first four years at Cornell University, but he’s a strong, physical, athletic catcher. I actually did get to see him. He’s got strength in the bat to work with. Our scout in North Carolina, Neil Avent, really liked him and was aggressive in trying to push us to get him signed, and he did a very good job getting him signed.
AF: Then I think the other one was Cooper Uhl out of Loyola Marymount.
EK: Right, yeah, Cooper is another catcher. He can really catch and throw, and he really kind of turned the corner with the bat this year. He’d gotten off to a very, very good start with the bat in the four weeks that they played. We think there’s a chance for the bat, and we really, really like his catch-and-throw skills.
AF: And tell me about the two pitchers you’ve signed so far after the draft.
EK: Right, Garrett Acton was the closer at Illinois. He throws hard, up to 94-95, and has had success. And then, Grant Judkins was a starter at the University of Iowa. He’s a kid who can really pitch, and we think there’s a little bit of upside left with him as well.
AF: It’ll be interesting to see if there are any more new additions added to the fold here in this period after the draft. It’s such a strange time, kind of like the wild west out there. You guys can track down all these guys and see who you can bring into the fold, but you’re competing with 29 other teams and you can only offer a maximum of $20,000 per person. So, it’s a really unusual situation for you, isn’t it?
EK: Yeah, for sure, and “wild west” is the best way to sum it up. It’s been a crazy couple of days. We’ll see what shakes out.
AF: Great, well, I appreciate you taking the time to talk with us today. It’s always great getting to chat with you and getting your insights on these guys. Thanks again for talking to us today, Eric.
EK: Okay, Bill, my pleasure.
You can find the complete conversation on our A’s Farm podcast on A’s Cast here.
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