A's Sign Four Selections from 2023 MLB Draft
We're still in the early stages of the signing period post-draft, but the Oakland Athletics have been busy already, per MLB's draft tracker. They will have until July 25th to sign this year's class.
The A's have signed four of their 20 selections so far, including second-rounder Ryan Lasko, an outfielder out of Rutgers, and right-hander Nathan Dettmer from Texas A&M.
Lasko was ranked 89th by MLB Pipeline, but taken with the #41 pick, which has reportedly led to an under-slot deal of $1.70 million for a savings of nearly $400,000. As I talked about yesterday with the player that A's GM David Forst was surprised to see available, these little bits of savings can add up to being able to sign a player that could otherwise choose to go to college, or return to college. The A's took a couple such players early in the Draft.
The Rutgers product is 21-years-old with a right-handed stick and slugged 16 home runs this past season, giving him a power rating of 50 on the 20-80 scout scale to go along with a strong arm (60) and pretty good speed (55). He is one of three centerfielders the A's took in the Draft.
Dettmer was selected with the 139th pick while being ranked #198, which led to another under-slot deal. He signed for $425k with the slot being valued at $459.8K.
Another 21-year-old, Dettmer is 6-foot-4 and entered the year with "first round upside" per Pipeline. He fell to the A's in the fifth round because of command issues with his fastball which had previously hit 99 but was topping out at 96. If the A's can figure out his command woes, there appears to be a decent amount of upside with this pick.
One of the other two picks that have signed is ninth-rounder Corey Avant, a RHP out of Wingate University in North Carolina. He is the highest ever selection out of Wingate (a DII school) at pick #256. San Francisco Giants 18th rounder in 2021, Hunter Dula, also played for Wingate. Avant pitched 39 innings this spring, walking 27, striking out 57, and racked up a 5.31 ERA. He signed at slot value ($185,100).
The final signed pick is 17th rounder Colby Halter, a second baseman out of the University of Florida. Halter is 6-foot-1, bats left, throws right, and was a Cape Cod League All Star in 2022. He hit .247 with three homers across 174 at-bats, but he also only struck out just 34 times, finishing with a 15.7% strikeout rate. Halter signed for $125,000. Since he was out of the top ten rounds, there was no slot value assigned to this selection.
The A's have a little over a week to sign the remaining 17 players left on their board.