High hopes for 9th pick

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For the third year in a row, the A’s will have a top-10 pick when the major-league draft gets under way Monday afternoon.

In 2016, Oakland was delighted when Florida lefthander A.J. Puk unexpectedly fell to the sixth spot. Last year, the team took high school outfielder Austin Beck with the sixth spot.

On Monday, the team drafts ninth, which can make the process a little trickier; it’s harder to handicap which players will be available, but there’s certainly a chance a

projected top-five player drops without warning, as Puk did.

“Everyone in the room is confident there will be an impact player available at nine,” A’s general manager David Forst said Sunday. “It’s a little lower than we’ve picked the last couple of years — and hopefully we’ll continue to have an even lower pick in the years to come — but as our draft board is set up heading into Monday, we’re excited about the possibilities.”

The A’s worked out third baseman Nolan Gorman ,a high school player from Arizona, at the Coliseum on Friday. He’s among the options Oakland is considering along with Gorman’s best friend and Team USA teammate, lefthander Matthew Liberatore, should he fall that far (some mock drafts have Liberatore going as early as third).

“I wouldn’t say we’re focused on any one position or demographic at the top of this draft,” Forst said of the high school-versus-college player debate.

South Alabama center fielder Travis Swaggerty is the player most often linked to the A’s and he remains the best bet, but South Florida lefty Shane McClanahan could be a target, given the team’s need for pitching and usual emphasis on college starters.