The Oakland Athletics enter this draft in a fascinating spot organizationally: cautiously optimistic, quietly improving, and emotionally recovering from the retirement of Rickey Henderson, which for many fans still feels less like a baseball transaction and more like a national tragedy.
You don’t replace Rickey Henderson. You just sort of wander aimlessly for a while and hope something else exciting eventually happens.
To Oakland’s credit, there are legitimate reasons for optimism here. The Athletics closed the season on an impressive run, going 16-7 in September while showing signs that the rebuild may actually be pointing in the right direction. The rotation suddenly has intrigue with Matt Morris, Jaret Wright, and a handful of other promising pieces beginning to emerge.
This front office, much like the Yankees, appears committed to building things methodically rather than desperately chasing an 84-win wildcard season and calling it progress.
But even with the positive momentum, one thing remains painfully obvious:
This team still needs a superstar.
They need upside. They need star power. They need someone fans can dream on while sitting through another random Tuesday night loss in May.
Enter Adrian Beltre.
At just 18 years old, Beltre is exactly the type of player a patient organization should be targeting. He’s young enough to fit perfectly within Oakland’s timeline and talented enough to eventually become the face of the franchise if development breaks correctly.
And the offensive upside here is enormous.
Potential for elite contact skills? Check.
Real power projection? Absolutely.
Sneaky athleticism that doesn’t get discussed enough? Also yes.
There’s a little bit of everything in this profile.
Defensively, things get interesting. The current ratings are underwhelming enough that you almost wonder if someone in the league office accidentally watched the wrong player before filing the report. There’s enough raw ability and athleticism here that improvement at third base feels entirely possible as he matures physically.
And even if the glove settles at merely “fine,” the bat is what carries the profile anyway.
Right now, Beltre is still very much a developmental player. The current ratings are modest, and he’ll almost certainly require meaningful AAA time before he’s ready to contribute consistently at the major league level.
But that’s perfectly fine for Oakland.
This organization can afford patience. In fact, patience is probably the entire plan.
They aren’t drafting for next April. They’re drafting for three or four years from now when this young core begins entering its prime together. Beltre fits that timeline beautifully and offers the type of long-term superstar upside that becomes increasingly difficult to find once you move beyond the top tier of the draft.
At this point on the board, this feels almost too easy.
PICK #9
Oakland Athletics select 3B Adrian Beltre