Draft preview: Opportunity knocks for A's

With five picks in the first two rounds of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft, Monday and Tuesday are pivotal days for the Oakland A's franchise. They will be drafting 11th overall in the first round. They also received a supplemental first-round pick, and a second-round pick as compensation for Josh Willingham, who was a Type-A free agent, and a compensatory second-round pick for David DeJesus, who was a Type-B free agent. A's Draft Order - First Three Rounds (MON: Round 1TUE: Rounds 2-15)First Round - 11th overall
Supplemental First Round - 34th overall (Compensation for Josh Willingham)
Second Round - 47th overall - (Compensation for David DeJesus)
Second Round - 62nd overall - (Compensation for Josh Willingham)
Second Round - 74th overall
Third Round - 106th overallThe A's are known for doing two things in the draft: taking collegiate players and drafting their perceived best player available. Just because the A's don't have organizational depth at shortstop or third base doesn't mean the A's will necessarily draft for that position. In the last 15 years, only two players the A's have drafted in the first round are currently on the 25-man roster: Jemile Weeks (2008) and Cliff Pennington (2005). Both players were drafted out of college. The A's typically avoid high school players. The last high school player the A's drafted in the first round was Jeremy Bonderman in 2001; before that it was Eric Chavez in 1996. In short, the reason the A's choose college players over high school ones is that they believe college players are closer to being MLB-ready. The high school season is also shorter than the college season. They feel they are better able to evaluate college players because of the larger sample size. Also, general manager Billy Beane was drafted as a highly-touted high school player, and he ended up flopping at the Major League level. Of all the A's first round picks, only one has been enshrined in Cooperstown: Reggie Jackson, who was drafted out of Arizona State University in 1966.For fun, here is every A's first round pick:
(not listing supplemental round picks)1965 Rick Monday, OF
1966 Reggie Jackson, OF
1967 Brian Bickerton, LHP
1968 Pete Broberg, RHP
1969 Dan Stanhouse, RHPSS
1970 Dan Ford, OF
1971 William Daniels, RHP
1972 Chet Lemon, SS
1973 Randy Scarbery, RHP
1974 Jerry Johnson, C
1975 Bruce Robinson, C
1976 Mike Sullivan, RHP
1977 Craig Harris, RHP
1978 Mike Morgan, RHP, Tim Conroy, LHP
1979 Juan Bustabad, INF
1980 Mike King, LHP
1981 Tim Pyznarski, 3B
1982 None
1983 Stan hilton, RHP
1984 Mark McGwire, 1B
1985 Walt Weiss, SS
1986 Scott Hemond, C
1987 Lee Tinsley, OF
1988 Stan Royer, 3B
1989 None
1990 Todd Van Poppel, RHP, Don Peters, RHP
1991 Brent Gates, SS
1992 Benji Grigsby, RHP
1993 John Wasdin, RHP
1994 Ben Grieve, OF
1995 Ariel Prieto, RHP
1996 Eric Chavez, SS
1997 Chris Enochs, RHP Eric DuBose, LHP
1998 Mark Mulder, LHP
1999 Barry Zito, LHP
2000 None
2001 Bobby Crosby, SS, Jeremy Bonderman, RHP
2002 Nick Swisher, OF, Joe Blanton, RHP, John Mccurdy, SS Ben Fritz, RHP
2003 Brad Sullivan, RHP, Brian Snyder, 3B
2004 Landon Powell, C, Richie Robnett, OF
2005 Cliff Pennington, SS
2006 None
2007 James Simmons, RHP
2008 Jemile Weeks, 2B
2009 Grant Green, SS
2010 Michael Choice, OF
2011 Sonny Gray, RHP
Did not sign with A's