Prospects mocked to Oakland A's with the sixth MLB Draft pick

The MLB Draft will take place this weekend, from Sunday, July 9 to Tuesday, July 11, and it will be held inside Lumen Field in Seattle in parallel with the All-Star events scheduled for the next few days.

The Oakland Athletics weren't lucky in the draft lottery, ending up in the sixth-overall spot, but they will have two other picks on top of that one inside the top-41 slots this weekend: the 6th, the 37th, and the 41st picks are in possession of the A's.

Here is a look at some of the prospects that are being mocked to the sixth-overall pick in possession to the Oakland Athletics.

MLB.com: Brayden Taylor, 3B, TCU

The official MLB site, with the help of the experts from MLB Pipeline, published an updated mock on Friday morning in which Jonathan Mayo was the leading writer describing each pick.

Although not a consensus selection until very late in the process, he picked the surging third-baseman from TCU Brayden Taylor on top of the oft-mocked Kyle Teel for the A's with the sixth-overall pick.

""College hitters are getting most of the attention here, and the A’s could be discussing bats like Taylor, Teel, Wilson and Gonzalez, while they’ll still consider Lowder and Dollander. If the Twins go the college hitter route, the A’s could easily shift gears and nab whichever of the top five gets to them.""

- Jonathan Mayo, MLB.com

Fangraphs: Brayden Taylor, 3B, TCU

The analytics-based site has a surprising player going to the A's, to an extent. Contrasting with what most of the mocks are predicting, Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs is projecting Oakland to draft third-baseman Brayden Taylor from Texas Christian with their first-round pick.

In his mock draft, Longenhahen had the next thoughts to share while reasoning the A's pick.

""Most industry rumors have the A’s on college bats like Taylor (strong buzz on that at the Combine) and Virginia catcher Kyle Teel, with Wake Forest righty Rhett Lowder also in the mix. If a high school outfielder is still on the board here, it might take an over-slot bonus to get a deal done, and if the number is high enough that it paints Oakland into a corner with their next two picks, it’s possible they blink and let Clark or Jenkins go by because they badly need depth in their system. A college guy here and two abnormally good high schoolers at 39 and 41 (thanks to the depth of the draft) feels better than an over-slot deal with Clark and at least one college guy later.""

- Eric Longenhagen, Fangraphs

ESPN: Brayden Taylor, 3B, TCU

This might not be quite representative of what is coming, or the latest intel gathered by ESPN as this belongs to Kiley McDaniel's predictions made on June 26, the last time ESPN released a mock draft as I'm writing this on Friday morning.

That said, it's interesting to find McDaniel picking the same prospect as Fangraphs' expert did. It's worth pointing out that McDaniel has oft-mentioned Kyle Teel going seventh to Cincincinnati, just one pick after the A's one.

This is what McDaniel wrote about the Athletics picking Taylor:

""I'm hearing all college bats here, and Taylor has been visited by a number of Oakland heavy hitters down the stretch. The other options are Gonzalez, Jacob Wilson and Teel. I think Taylor, Teel and Gonzalez will all go in this 6-11 range; Wilson has a real chance to slide further and should provide the most savings.""

- Kiley McDaniel, ESPN

Bally Sports: Kyle Teel, C, Virginia

The folks over Bally Sports created a consensus mock draft they released on July 6. In the article, put together by Joe Lago, he projected Kyle Teel as the A's first-round pick with the sixth-overall selection.

Although Lago didn't share any personal opinion on the player or the fit, he highlighted an interesting nugget on Kyle's player profile and past.

""Teel was a dual-threat quarterback in high school in New Jersey and displayed that athleticism at UVA by also playing shortstop and outfield. He was recognized as college baseball's best catcher this year, receiving awards in the names of Buster Posey and Johnny Bench.""

- Joe Lago, Bally Sports

He also included a quote from Virginia head coach Brian O'Connor discussing his soon-to-be-former catcher once Teel turns pro and enter some minor league ranks.

""He’s been doing it all year, and playing the position that he’s playing, and catching every inning, with the energy he plays it with, it’s as impressive of a regular season as I’ve seen anybody have in 20 years.""

- Brian O'Connor, Virginia HC

Bleacher Report: Jacob Wilson, SS, Grand Canyon

Baseball analyst Joel Reuter has been the man penning mocks for Bleacher Report. In his latest update, a little over a week ago and with the college season already over, he assigned a shortstop to the A's with their sixth pick.

Reuter chose Jacob Wilson of Grand Canyon, and explained his pick as follows:

""In today's era of launch angle and sky-high strikeout rates, Wilson is a throwback who has built his offensive game around a standout hit tool and elite bat-to-ball skills. The 6'3" shortstop struck out just 31 times in 697 plate appearances during his three years at Grand Canyon, including only five punchouts this spring. He may never be a true power threat, but he did post a .635 slugging percentage this season after tallying 12 home runs as a sophomore.""

- Joel Reuter, BR

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