On the final day of the MLB Draft, teams mostly look to fill their Minor League rosters with organizational depth. The A’s, however, led off Day 3 of the 2024 MLB Draft by landing a potential steal.

Picking first overall on Tuesday, Oakland began the 11th round by selecting Texas Tech right-hander Kyle Robinson with pick no. 316. Coming in, Robinson was rated MLB Pipeline's No. 182 Draft prospect. Most Draft experts tabbed the 6-foot-6, 210-pounder to go somewhere on Day 2, with MLB Pipeline’s Jim Callis projecting him to go in the fourth or fifth round.

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"We were surprised,” A’s scouting director Eric Kubota said on Tuesday afternoon of Robinson still being available on Day 3. “We actually thought there was a fairly big gap between Kyle and the rest of whatever pitching was available today. It’s just the way things fell. We think there’s upside left there."

The overall college statistics don’t jump out for Robinson, who in three seasons at Texas Tech posted a 5.14 ERA in 45 games (20 starts), with 133 strikeouts and 62 walks over 133 innings.

What scouts really like about Robinson, though, is his projectability. His four-pitch mix is highlighted by a 60-grade changeup that fades out of the zone and generates plenty of chase. His fastball ranges from 91-95 mph, though there is a belief that he could add a bit more life and velocity to it by adding some strength as a professional.

"He’s physical," Kubota said. “We were happy that he was there when we picked today. I don’t like the reason we end up picking first in the round, but it’s nice to have that pick to start the day.”

Robinson is one of a few players the A’s were pleasantly surprised to see were still available later than they had expected. For example, shortstop Ali Camarillo, their 12th-round selection out of Texas A&M, is a slick-fielding defender they had evaluated going much higher.

Pitch-heavy Day 3
Pitching was a clear focus for the A’s on Tuesday. Outside of Camarillo and 19th-rounder Gunner Gouldsmith, a shortstop out of Sacramento State, Oakland selected a pitcher with eight of its final 10 picks.

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It was a stark difference from Day 2, which saw the A’s stock up on position players, including the 2024 Big Ten Player of the Year in Rutgers shortstop Joshua Kuroda-Grauer with the No. 75 overall pick.

"The way the Draft fell the first two days, we were probably position-player heavy,” Kubota said. “So we definitely felt like we needed some pitching today. There are still guys we are surprised were there, and we’re happy to get. But at the same time, we were also trying to accomplish some roster-filling as well.”

Local legend
The A’s went local with their fourth-round selection (pick No. 104 overall) of outfielder Rodney Green, who starred just down the road from the Coliseum at Cal Berkeley.

Green, who grew up in nearby Richmond and wore No. 24 throughout college as an homage to Oakland legend and Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson, showed off an exciting power-speed combination across three seasons with the Golden Bears by swiping 45 bases and crushing 34 home runs in 151 games.

If the Draft was based on talent alone, Green’s exciting tools would earn him a first-round grade. But there were some concerns about his lack of consistent contact, as his strikeout rate hovered around 30% in college. Having kept a close eye on him for a few years now, the A’s have been encouraged by his improvements in that aspect of his game.

“The numbers may not totally bear it out this year,” Kubota said of Green’s 2024 campaign. “But we felt like the swing decisions were a little better. We do think a lot of that is approach-generated, and those are things we can help him with. … There are a lot of scouts, such as myself, who really saw Rodney as a first-round talent. I feel like it was really a bargain where we got him.”

A catching infielder?
Davis Diaz, Oakland’s eighth-round pick, split time between third base, second base and shortstop over his three seasons at Vanderbilt University. So it was a bit of a surprise that he was announced as a catcher when the A’s selected him on Monday.

While Diaz may not have caught at Vandy, he was a catcher during a standout prep career at Acalanes High School in nearby Lafayette, Calif.

The A’s saw plenty of what he could do behind the plate while watching him as a high schooler. His selection is an example of the value that comes from local scouting.

"It’s a lot easier for me to go to Acalanes [to scout a player] than it is to go if he were in high school in Tennessee,” Kubota said. “It helps in [Diaz’s] case, because we saw a lot of him in high school. … If he can catch, which we think he can, it just adds to his versatility and makes his prospect status even greater."