Athletics to choose 11th in 2012 Major League Baseball First-Year Draft
MLB Network Begins Live Coverage Monday, June 4 at 4 p.m. PDT
The Oakland Athletics will select 11th in the first round of Major League Baseball's 2012 First-Year Draft, which will be held in Studio 42 at MLB Network in Secaucus, N.J. Monday, June 4, starting at 4 p.m. PDT with first-day coverage provided by both MLB Network and MLB.com.
The A's, who acquired two compensation "sandwich" picks for the off-season loss of modified Type A free agent Josh Willingham (34th selection, Twins) and Type B free agent David DeJesus (47th selection, Cubs), will choose three players during the first day of the 2012 Draft and possess five of the top 74 picks overall. Oakland will also exercise the 62nd and 74th selections in the second round.
For the fourth straight year, the 2012 Draft will span three days. MLB Network and MLB.com will provide live pick-by-pick coverage during the first round and the first compensation round on day one. The intervals between selections will last five minutes during the first round and one minute during the compensation round. The Draft will resume at 9 a.m. PDT on both Tuesday, June 5 and Wednesday, June 6 via conference call from MLB headquarters in New York City.
Former relief pitcher Chad Bradford, who played on three playoff teams (2001-03) with Oakland, will represent the Athletics at the draft.
Beginning the second day, MLB.com will offer exclusive live programming of the draft's final days, including a live pick-by-pick stream, expert commentary and the DraftCaster, a live interactive application that includes a searchable database of every draft-eligible player supplemented by statistics, scouting reports and video highlights.
Last year, the A's chose right-handed pitcher Sonny Gray of Vanderbilt University in the first round of the draft, the 18th overall pick. Oakland only had three of the top 136 selections in the draft last season, picking third baseman B.A. Vollmuth (Southern Mississippi, 105th overall) and center fielder Bobby Crocker (Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo, 136th) in the third and fourth rounds, respectively.
Since 1997, Oakland has selected only one high school player in the first round (Jeremy Bonderman, 2001).