by Bill Moriarity / A’s Farm Editor
July 15, 2024
On Sunday, the A’s selected first baseman Nick Kurtz, third baseman Tommy White and lefthanded pitcher Gage Jump with their first three picks in this year’s amateur draft. And on Monday, the A’s used five of their eight picks to stock up on more college bats.
In the third round, the A’s took college shortstop Josh Kuroda-Grauer out of Rutgers with the 75th overall pick. The 21-year-old infielder was MLB Pipeline’s 90th-ranked prospect prior to the draft. The 6-foot, 190-pound, righthanded-hitting shortstop is a contact hitter with good speed. He hit .428 with 19 doubles and 24 stolen bases in 53 games for Rutgers this season.
In the fourth round, the A’s selected college outfielder Rodney Green out of UC Berkeley with the 104th overall pick. The 21-year-old Green was MLB Pipeline’s 132nd-ranked prospect prior to the draft. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound, lefthanded-hitting outfielder has speed and power and takes plenty of walks but also strikes out a lot. He hit 14 home runs, stole 15 bases, drew 43 walks and struck out 72 times in 55 games for Cal this season.
In the fifth round, the A’s took righthanded pitcher Sam Stuhr out of the University of Portland with the 137th overall pick. The 21-year-old Stuhr was MLB Pipeline’s 184th-ranked prospect prior to the draft. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound righty primarily relies on a mid-90s fastball and an effective slider to rack up plenty of strikeouts. He averaged 11.3 K/9 but also averaged 5.1 BB/9 over 80 innings for Portland this season.
18-year-old 6th-round pick Josiah Romeo is a righthanded pitcher out of Mayfield Secondary School in Ontario, Canada, and he’s currently committed to Florida State University. The big righty posted a 2.51 ERA with 16 strikeouts, 12 hits and 4 earned runs across 4 appearances for the Trenton Thunder of the MLB Draft League. Romeo was also a member of the Baseball Canada Junior National Team.
18-year-old 7th-round pick Dylan Fien was listed as a shortstop coming into the draft, but the A’s drafted him as a catcher, and he is ranked as the number two catcher in California by Perfect Game. The switch-hitter hit .433 with 15 doubles in 27 games for Great Oak High School in Temecula, California, and he’s currently committed to UCLA.
21-year-old 8th-round pick Davis Diaz primarily played third base at Vanderbilt but was drafted by the A’s as a catcher, the position he played at Acalanes High School in Lafayette, California. The defense-first Diaz hit .248 with 10 doubles, 7 home runs and 30 walks in 61 games for Vanderbilt this season.
22-year-old 9th-round pick Jared Sprague-Lott earned SEC All-Defensive Team honors in his senior season as the starting third baseman at Arkansas. He hit 9 home runs and drew 36 walks in 48 games while posting a .425 on-base percentage this season for the Razorbacks.
22-year-old 10th-round pick Cameron Leary is another outfielder with speed and power who takes plenty of walks but also strikes out a lot, much like 4th-round pick Rodney Green. He hit 15 home runs, stole 23 bases, drew 53 walks and struck out 60 times in 53 games for Boston College this season.
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