The Athletics have agreed to terms with Logan Davidson, their top pick in the 2019 draft, according to Jim Callis of MLB.com (via Twitter). A shortstop out of Clemson, Davidson will receive the full slot value of his No. 29 overall selection — a $2,424,600 bonus.
Davidson, 21, hit .291/.412/.574 with 15 home runs, 18 doubles, two triples and 17 stolen bases (in 20 attempts) during his junior year at Clemson. This marks the second time he’s been selected in the draft, as the Phillies picked him in the 30th round back in 2016 but were unable to persuade him to forgo his college commitment.
Heading into the draft, the team at Baseball America was most bullish on Davidson, ranking him 19th on their Top 500. He checked in at No. 21 at MLB.com, No. 27 per ESPN’s Keith Law and No. 29 at Fangraphs. BA praises Davidson as a legitimate shortstop with power and speed while noting that there are questions surrounding his hit tool. Callis and colleague Jonathan Mayo wrote in their report at MLB.com that if scouts were convinced Davidson will hit with a wood bat, he might’ve been the first college shortstop off the board. Concerns surrounding Davidson’s performance with wood bats in last summer’s Cape Cod League are a recurring theme, but the general upside of his power, speed and glove at shortstop nonetheless made him a consensus first-round talent in pre-draft projections.
Signing was delayed while the team was away, that’s why it hadn’t been announced before now.
Say, what level is last year’s first round pick at now, single-A, double A? I remember it was a top-10 pick so I’m sure it was a very good player and would be progressing rapidly in the a’s farm system. Oh, yeah, it was a football player that wonder-boy Beannie picked with his first pick!
That no one, LITERALLY NO ONE, except for the player himself thought would play well enough in his last college football season to get big draft money in the NFL. They took the most athletic player in the draft last year and it didn’t work out. It happens all the time.
Like the Astros getting three #1 overall picks in a row and only one of them working out.
I’d say things have gone ok.
Sure, but they still bombed on two #1 overall picks. Nothing in drafting is a guarantee in baseball.
There would have been no need for Profar if they picked Hiura over Beck.
Statman how is your team’s first round pick coming along? Yes that is correct struggling in rookie ball after costing millions.
from a 30th round pick to first rounder in 3 years? he must have worked really hard!
Apparently their 2nd round pick out of the 40 rounds is the only one not to sign yet.
Should be money there to sign him to slot value. Got some pretty good deals on a lot of our early round selections, with an uncharacteristic $300K going to our 8th round pick.
I think he’s still playing college ball, but I’ve heard the 1st and 2nd round picks were tied together financially.
Interesting. Probably gonna have to give him a lot more than the recommended slot value, but we need to start filling the system with more of these average floor guys. There’s a lot of low floor high risk guys in our system, and some of them are starting to prove they deserved the shot, like Nick Allen.
Nick Allen proving the A’s still have the eye. Concerns about being 5’8 be damned, he’s 19 and slashing .294/.364/.453 in Stockton right now, and defense is his calling card. He’ll end up being our David Eckstein.
The A’s played Allen a lot towards the end of spring trining in 2018, and as an 18 yo, he was super impressive. I have a feeling any Semien contract extension is going to be tied to when they think Allen can take over. Basically Eckstein with Chapman defense…
How did the A’s first rounder last year do in the minors?***
No worse than about 50% of all first rounders but without the disappointment of waiting years?
About as well as Mike Trout in the playoffs
How did MLB screw over the A’s so bad in not giving them a comp pick for the player who stole their money and retired from baseball without ever suiting up for them???