Shortstop has proved long on skills

Oakland Tech’s Crampton wows with his play at bat and in field

Oakland Tech baseball coaches Bryan Bassette and Erik Housh have coached for and against some of the area’s best.

Among them are former Tech outfielder James Harris Jr. (2011 first-round pick of the Rays), Head Royce-Oakland/ Stanford infielder Nico Hoerner (2018 first-round pick of the Cubs) and 2018 Metro Player of the Year Osiris Johnson, of Encinal-Alameda (2018 second-round pick of the Marlins).

Bassette and Housh agree that Oakland Tech senior shortstop Adam Crampton “stacks up evenly with all of them,” Housh said.

For a fourth consecutive season, Crampton made a good case, hitting .551 with a .986 slugging percentage, 19 extrabase hits (four homers, three triples, 12 doubles), 35 runs and 21 stolen bases in 22 tries.

He was better on defense, where the Stanford-bound athlete made dazzling plays and throws seem routine.

“He literally makes one or two plays a game that has the crowd gasping and opposing players and coaches shaking their heads,” Bassette said late in the season. “He has majorleague-caliber range and hands right now, and his arm would be considered a plus major-league arm at shortstop.”

With that in mind, Crampton beat out a tough field to be named The Chronicle’s 2019 Metro Player of the Year.

The 6-foot-1, 170-pounder led a young Oakland Tech team (15-11) to its 10th straight Oakland Section title and second consecutive Transbay championship (the third in four years). Even with a scholarship to Stanford signed — he also had offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Cal and UC Santa Barbara — Crampton didn’t rest on his laurels. He’s maintained a 4.2 grade-point average throughout high school.

Described as a coach on the field — “Adam’s glove and baseball IQ are unmatched by his peers,” said former Cal standout and major-leaguer Jon Zuber, who heads up a Zoots Baseball showcase team with which Crampton plays — his intangibles made him a generational high school player in the area, Housch said.

“He’s just an outstanding young man, teammate and first-rate scholar,” Housch said. “He is a team leader and a joy to coach in every regard.”

Oakland Tech Oakland Tech senior shortstop Adam Crampton, shown playing in the Area Code Baseball showcase, hit .551 with four home runs and a .986 slugging percentage.