Touted college OF Burress 'ready to be a part of' A's young core after pick

CHICAGO -- Nick Kurtz and Jacob Wilson, the previous two first-round position players drafted by the Athletics, quickly made their way to the big leagues as impact players, and there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic their latest first-rounder, Drew Burress, could continue that trend.

The A’s landed Burress, widely regarded as the top college outfielder of the 2026 MLB Draft, with the No. 8 pick. The 21-year-old Georgia Tech product was rated as MLB Pipeline's No. 7 Draft prospect, viewed as a player with solid or better skills in multiple key areas. Scouts say the righty bat has excellent plate discipline and a quick and compact swing that lends itself to plus power to all fields.

Those hit tools were evident during his stellar college career at Georgia Tech, where he hit .357 with 60 homers and a 1.204 OPS in three seasons and set a slew of historic marks. He just wrapped up his junior season with 16 homers, 60 RBIs and a slash line of .358/.473/.657 as he helped lead George Tech to a 50-11 record and an ACC-best 25-5 in-conference record.

“All the analytics point to him being an extremely good big league hitter,” said A’s scouting director Eric Kubota. “There’s not much not to like about Drew. We feel very fortunate that he got to us. … We’ve had good success with guys that we’ve identified very early in the process. He’s one of those guys, and we kind of stayed on him through the whole spring.”

Among the history he made at Tech, Burress became the fastest Yellow Jackets player to reach 30 and 40 career homers, and is the only player in program history to reach 60 homers. He's also the program's BBCOR-era leader in RBIs (189), doubles (61), runs (232) and total bases (503).

As those numbers would indicate, hitting for extra bases is a huge part of Burress' game. In fact, he became the first player this century in a Power Four conference to collect 40 or more extra-base hits in three straight seasons, and became just the second Division I player do it this century.

Hitting aside, the 21-year-old has enough speed to make him a threat on the bases and allow him to make big plays in the outfield, where scouts believe he could settle in center field as a pro. However, his plus arm also gives him the ability to play right field. Related: He set a Georgia Tech record with 10 outfield assists in 2024.

The A’s have a stockpile of talented outfield depth, whether it be in the Majors with Henry Bolte, Tyler Soderstrom, Denzel Clarke and Lawrence Butler, or down to the Minors with top prospects such as Devin Taylor, Gavin Turley and Breyson Guedez.

Burress likely can handle all three outfield spots, but the A’s fully view him as a strong center fielder.

“We think he’s a center fielder,” Kubota said. “Obviously, if you’re a good center fielder, usually it’ll translate to the corners as well. … We do see him as a center fielder and think he can be very good there. We also recognize we have a pretty good young center fielder in the big leagues right now.”

Burress, a consensus First-Team All-American in 2025 and 2026 and a Golden Spikes finalist in each of his three college seasons, is also said to have an outstanding work ethic (he graduated from college in three years) and tremendous baseball smarts. Those intangibles, combined with his physical skills, could portend a strong career in the big leagues.

It may not be long before Burress gets that big league career started with the A’s, who certainly do not shy away from fast-tracking their top prospects. Wilson reached the Majors 376 days after being drafted in 2023. Kurtz beat that mark with an arrival just 283 days from his draft date in 2024. Last year’s first-rounder, left-hander Jamie Arnold, is already at Double-A Midland and has a realistic shot to join the big league club at some point this year.

“I kind of looked at them already going into the Draft and was thinking, like, ‘Wow,’” Burress said. “The A’s are actually in such an exciting spot. Guys like Kurtz and Jacob Wilson, there’s so many young guys on that roster right now that are all good players. … It’s a really exciting group of guys for sure, and I’m ready to be a part of it.”