February 18, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Oakland Athletics infielder Addison Russell (7) poses for a picture during photo day at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Currently, names like Jemile Weeks and Grant Green are at the tip of most A’s fans tongues as they toil away in Triple A, they were 2008 and 2009 first round selections respectively.  The A’s took Michael Choice in the first round in 2010, and also plays for the Sacramento River Cats awaiting his call to the show.    Sonny Gray was selected in the first round of 2011 and is on the cusp of making his debut with the Athletics sometime in 2013.  Addison Russell was selected in 2012, and is doing work for the Single A Stockton Ports.

Well known names for A’s fans like Cliff Pennington, Landon Powell, Joe Blanton, Mark Mulder, and Barry Zito were all taken in the first round by the Athletics and have established some level of MLB careers for themselves.  For every pick like them, there are the Richie Robnett’s, Ben Fritz’s and Brad Sullivan’s who never get a whiff of the Show.  Clearly no pick is a slam dunk, even in the first round.

Today the Athletics have the 24th pick in the draft.  This is hardly an easy position to be in because once you get passed the Mark Appel, Jonathan Gray, Kris Bryant type guys at the top of the draft board it gets much more difficult to predict the MLB future of these college and high school players.

As with any major draft, there are mock drafts aplenty by various experts.  So who do the experts see the Athletics taking today?  I checked in on Jim Callis of Baseball America, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, Dave Perkins of Sports Illustrated, and John Sickels of Minor League Ball to see where their mock drafts had the A’s going.  Naturally they all have different players head to the Athletics.

Callis has the A’s taking big right handed hitting Aaron Judge, a junior outfielder out of Fresno State who seeks to challenge Nate Freiman as the biggest position player in MLB.  Standing at 6’7″ and weighing in at 255, he can generate a lot of power but may strikeout a ton as well.  If the power is there, the K’s can be tolerated.  He looks to project as a right fielder or could conceivably be converted to a first baseman.

Mayo projects Philip Ervin, and righty junior outfielder from Samford.  He’s the anti-Aaron Judge, standing at just 5’11′.  He appears to be able to generate power along with some speed as well.  He’s a center fielder and may have the tools to stay there.

Perkins thinks the A’s will take right handed pitcher Andrew Thurman out of UC Irvine.  Thurman projects as a middle of the rotation type starter, and appears to me to be something of an uninteresting, yet safe selection.  He won’t blow away the radar gun, and won’t wow you with his breaking ball, he’s primarily a fastball/changeup pitcher.  I would hope the A’s go for someone a little more exciting than Thurman.

Sickels likes Sean Manaea, a left handed hurler from Indiana State for the Athletics.  Manaea is intriguing because his initial draft stock was much higher, but he has been dealing with some shoulder issues that will likely scare off many teams.  His talent is evident though.  With a mid to high 90′s fast ball and a tough slider and changeup to go along with it, Manaea appears to have the tools to dominate at the major league level.  His health may always be in doubt though.  Sounds like the classic high risk, high reward draft pick.

Former Athletics reliever Jim Mecir will serve as the team’s representative at the draft itself, which begins today at 4PM PST and can be seen on MLB Network.

The two of them are coming from different directions as they embark on the 2013 season.  Russell is fresh out of high school, at just 19 years old, he’s the youngest player in any major league camp.  Choice is coming off an injury plagued season that saw his top prospect status plummet, and he’s out to prove once again he is a future star.  What the two have in common though is that they’ve both impressed all observers.

Mar 5, 2013; Surprise, AZ, USA; Oakland Athletics center fielder Michael Choice (32) at bat during the fourth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Surprise Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

The impression Michael Choice has made can be clearly seen by looking at his Spring Training stat sheet.  It’s been well documented how insignificant I generally think stats during the spring are, but in the case of a young player like Choice, they are meaningful.  He’s appeared in 12 games, and started 5 thus far, most of his playing time has been in center field.  He’s posted a .414/.419/.655 slash line over 31 plate appearances.  He has homered twice, but technically did so just the one time since his second of the spring was washed away on Friday.  He’s generating the same type of power that he did in 2011 with the Stockton Ports, and Athletics fans should be excited by what they’ve seen from Michael Choice this spring as he heads to Sacramento to play for the Rivercats once the minor league season gets underway.

February 18, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Oakland Athletics infielder Addison Russell (7) poses for a picture during photo day at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

For Addison Russell, everything he is experiencing is new.  Having just been drafted last June out of high school, he’s extremely young and extremely raw, but he’s also extremely talented.  His playing time has been much less significant than Choice’s, with just 17 plate appearances over 6 games.  His slash line doesn’t stand out necessarily at .250/.294/.313.  But he’s shown a level of maturity beyond his years, and has already gained valuable experience.  Saturday afternoon he learned a lesson the hard way when he started for first base on a presumed ball four, only to be called back when the umpire called strike two.  On the A’s radio broadcast Ray Fosse remarked that anything close to the plate would almost certainly be called a strike on the youngster.  That was exactly what happened, and Russell was rung up.  It was a lesson learned that he’ll surely not forget.

The optimism that surrounds the Athletics because of their great success in 2012 and the potential for even greater success in 2013 extends throughout the organization.  While the cupboard might be somewhat empty at the moment due to the trades of the offseason and the promotion to Oakland of many young talented players, the presence of Addison Russell and Michael Choice in the system is reason for continued optimism.  Choice could potentially make an appearance in Oakland sometime this year if everything goes well in Sacramento and all the stars align, and Russell could find himself in Oakland by late 2014 or 2015 if his development continues at this rate.  The two of them present all the more reason for A’s fans to feel good about the direction of the organization.

The A’s have played 4 whole games of the 35 game schedule leading up to Opening Night versus the Seattle Mariners.  Yet there are some crazy overreactions that some might be experiencing right now based on those 4 games.  I’ll admit, I may actually be guilty of one of those overreactions.  So let’s take a look at what kind of things people might be saying right now.

“Hiro Nakajima can’t hit major league pitching, and the A’s should make Jed Lowrie the everyday shortstop from now on.”

February 18, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Oakland Athletics shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima (3) poses for a picture during photo day at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

So the guy went 0-6 with 5 strikeouts before getting his first hit Tuesday afternoon.  Not the most auspicious debut in America.  Surely there’s an adjustment to the competition here in the United States, and there are a lot of eyes on him across the Pacific.  Even in Spring Training Nakajima has to be feeling some level of pressure from all that.  He’ll be fine, he’ll hit, trust me on this one.

“Jemile Weeks will be the starting second baseman on Opening Night.”

With a double and a nifty defensive play in the first game of the Spring, Jemile Weeks certainly seemed to be showing a little bit of the spark that he brought to the team in 2011.  While it certainly seems plausible he could push his way into the regular lineup once again, the acquisition of Jed Lowrie and the return of Scott Sizemore seems to indicate the A’s brass has little faith in his ability to do such a thing.  Stranger things have happened though.

“Michael Choice and Addison Russell should be on the 25 man roster at the beginning of the regular season.”

I don’t have the vocabulary to appropriately illustrate how insane this idea is.  Sure the two of them have gotten off to hot starts in the A’s first 4 games, and are undoubtedly making an impression, but they are not ready to be on a major league roster.  Choice will, and should begin the season at Triple A Sacramento, and Russell is slated to head to Double A Midland; that’s where they both belong.

“The A’s bullpen will be a weakness in 2013.”

Many of the primary relievers for the Athletics haven’t even pitched in their first games yet, and those that have are middle relievers at best.  The guys who’ve been coughing up all these runs are way down on the depth chart or they simply are in big league camp to gain a little experience.  That said, even if it were Sean Doolittle and Ryan Cook getting shelled I wouldn’t panic…. because it’s Spring Training!

There’s a long way to go folks, so do your best to keep an even keel through all the highs and lows of the Cactus League.  Some guys perform well in exhibition games, some don’t because there simply isn’t the same motivation.  Whatever the performance, and whatever the reason for it, it’s best to just kick back and relax and be happy that baseball is back!