Who will the Oakland Athletics select in the MLB Draft?

There will be no balls or strikes, no wind-up or pitch, no rounding bases — negotiations between the MLB and MLB Player’s Association have an official MLB start date on ice, still.

But, baseball fans can get a taste of the MLB on Wednesday night. The delayed 2020 draft, now truncated to five rounds with a $20,000 cap for contracts offered to any amateur player un-drafted, will be the first live baseball action since March.

The A’s come into this equipped with the 26th pick and four more picks. No extra compensation, no competitive balance picks and, perhaps, the lingering stigma leftover from A’s owner John Fisher’s decision to cut minor leaguers’ $400 stipend shielding un-drafted players from picking the A’s to sign a $20,000 deal.

The A’s can hope, at least, that Fisher’s decision to reverse course will draw players back in. A strong reputation for player advancement precedes Fisher’s flub, and a top-heavy system brimming with regarded talent in the upper minor league levels might be appealing for amateur players looking to make a name for themselves in the lower levels early.

“John has obviously reversed that decision and I have confidence in the relationships that our scouts have with players and their ability to go out there and get that done,” A’s general manager David Forst said.

A draft shrunk down 35 rounds could force all teams, whether they admit it or not, to zero in a bit more on immediate needs within the system over a preferred best-player-available approach Forst says the A’s will maintain.

Narrowing in on the five best picks will be particularly difficult without the faceto-face, in-game data and information collection scouts collect and pore over during a typical spring. The pandemic confined scouting director Eric Kubota and a crew that is usually hopping from seat-toseat around the country’s high school and college diamonds into a host of Zoom calls to confer over already-compiled analysis.

College athletes only got around 14-15 games under their belts before NCAA baseball shut down. Most high school athletes hadn’t even begun their season. Fresh information is unavailable.

“It’s not quite the same as being at a game, but we’re using whatever video we have,” Kubota said last month. “We have video from past seasons, we have video from the portion of the college season that happened this year. It’s a little harder for the high school guys.”

With parameters and restrictions in place — and impending furloughs for a sizable chunk of the hardworking A’s scouts and baseball operations staff looming right after their draft duties conclude — who might the A’s pick?

How the A’s trend — Of the A’s last six first-round picks, outfielder Austin Beck is the lone high schooler drafted.

2019 (No. 29 pick): Logan Davidson, SS, Clemson — Spring training invite in 2020

2018 (No. 9 pick): Kyler Murray, OF, Oklahoma — Star first-pick quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals

2017 (No. 6 pick): Austin Beck, CF, North Davidson High School, N.C. — Reached high-A Stockton

2016 (No. 6 pick) : A.J. Puk, LHP, Florida — On the brink of becoming rotation mainstay

2015 (No. 20 pick): Richie Martin, SS, Florida — Baltimore selected him in the 2018 Rule 5 draft

2014 (No. 25 pick): Matt Chapman, 3B, Cal State Fullerton — Gold Glove third baseman, de-facto team leader

In other words, the A’s lean more toward selecting established college players.

What the A’s might need — Pitching, particularly left-handed pitching.

Two of the A’s prized left-handed pitching prospects, Jesús Luzardo (No. 1 prospect) and Puk (No. 3 prospect), inevitably cracking into the big league roster leaves nearly barren LHP presence on the team’s top prospect list. Hogan Harris, who spent last season in Double A with the Midland Rockhounds, is the only other southpaw on MLB’s Top 30 prospect list.

The good news? This draft is brimming with college-level pitching talent.

Names we might hear, if the A’s take a LHP

This draft is lined with a few lefty arms that most certainly won’t fall to 26: Texas A&M’s Asa Lacy, Louisville’s Reid Detmers, for example.

Some names that might fall to the later end, where the A’s sit: Tennessee’s Garrett Crochet and Florida International’s Logan Allen. If the A’s feel like plunging into the high school pool, they could select Dax Fulton from Mustang High School in Oklahoma.

Why not a RHP? — That’s certainly possible. Pitching depth is thin in the lower levels of the minor leagues. Daulton Jefferies, James Kaprielian, Grant Holmes, Brian Howard, Miguel Romero, Parker Dunshee and Brady Feigl make up seven of the nine right-handed pitchers on the top prospects list, and all have advanced above A-ball.

Tyler Baum and Gus Varland are the two high-ranked right-handers that remain.

Some names we might hear if the A’s go with a right-handed pitcher: Auburn’s Tanner Burns, Miami’s Chris McMahon, South Carolina’s Carmen Mlodzinski, Oklahoma’s Cade Cavalli, Duke’s Bryce Jarvis, Georgia’s Cole Wilcox, Texas Tech’s Clayton Beeter.

Where are the A’s stacked? — Marcus Semien’s MVP-caliber progression caps an A’s system rife with middle infield talent that could come bursting at the seams in the coming years.

Shortstop Nick Allen, their 2017 thirdround pick, is a rising star known first for his impeccable glove and, now, for gap-togap power that’s noticeably improving and boosting him to the No. 5 overall spot on the A’s prospect list. Fellow shortstop Robert Puason, at just 17-years-old playing rookie ball, is ranked as the team’s No. 4 prospect.

They’re trailed by Major League-ready middle infielders like Sheldon Neuse (No. 6), Jorge Mateo (No. 7), 22-year-old Davidson (No. 8) and Jeremy Eierman (No. 22).