With recent picks already in Majors, A's turn attention to '25 Draft

To get an idea of the importance of drafting well for a team like the Athletics, look no further than their series opener against the Giants on July 4.

Every player in the A’s starting lineup that night, outside of catcher and designated hitter, was drafted by the club, an extremely rare occurrence of an entire infield and outfield composed of a team’s own Draft picks that had only happened 220 times across all of MLB since 1969.

That young group of Jacob Wilson (2023 first-round pick), Nick Kurtz (2024 first-round pick), Max Muncy (2021 first-round pick), Zack Gelof (2021 second-round pick), Tyler Soderstrom (2020 first-round pick), Denzel Clarke (2021 fourth-round pick) and Lawrence Butler (2018 sixth-round pick) went out that night and ignited the offense to an 11-2 victory over San Francisco at Sutter Health Park.

“It's super exciting for our whole staff,” A’s scouting director Eric Kubota said of watching the all-Draftee infield and outfield. “For the area scouts on up, those guys are out there working their buns off. It’s not very often where you get to see those guys play in the big leagues, let alone all play in the same lineup on the same team that you work for. It’s really exciting for us. It’s fun to see those guys do well and fun to see them succeed.”

Despite getting snakebitten by the MLB Draft lottery for 2023 and 2024 – twice falling out of the top three picks even though they carried the best odds to come away with the first overall pick both times – the A’s could not have been more pleased with how it’s all played out. The last two Drafts have seen them land Wilson and Kurtz, arguably the top two rookies in all of baseball so far this season, with their top picks in each.

“It’s certainly had a positive impact,” Kubota said. “Obviously, you look at Kurtz and Wilson and what they’re doing in the big leagues. I think we felt like some of our Drafts before that were pretty good, too, but maybe not as celebrated. It’s easy to see what Jacob and Nick are doing. But you go back to Lawrence [Butler] and guys like that who were less celebrated who are now up there as regular contributors at the big league level. The last few years have been fun.”

The A’s will be picking a little higher this time around at No. 11, but the approach remains the same.

“We’re always just trying to take the best available player,” Kubota said. “We’re not picking for need. I think we’re fairly excited about what could get to us. We won’t really know until Sunday. Just like last year, I don’t think we knew Kurtz was going to get to us. We’ve been fortunate with the way these Drafts have gone. That’s kind of a product of our process, and we’re looking forward to putting that process in play again this year.”

• Day 1 picks: 11, 48
• Bonus pool allotment: $10,563,500, 19th-highest in MLB
• Last year’s top pick: Nick Kurtz, 1B, pick 4 -- A slugging first baseman, Kurtz debuted in the big leagues just 283 days from the day he was drafted and has quickly emerged as one of the top rookies in MLB. The 22-year-old entered Monday tied for most home runs (13) among all Major League rookies while slashing .243/.316/.503 through 52 games with the A’s.

• Breakout 2024 pick: Gage Jump, SP, pick 73 -- The A’s No. 1 prospect (MLB No. 68) is in the midst of a dominant debut season. He started out the 2025 campaign at High-A Lansing, where he posted a 2.32 ERA in six games (five starts) with 45 strikeouts and five walks across 31 innings, then earned a promotion to Double-A Midland, where he’s pitched even better, recording a 1.90 ERA in nine starts with 49 strikeouts across 47 1/3 innings.