For years it was hard to argue that the A’s, whether through bad scouting, bad coaching, or just bad luck, had difficulty producing great hitters from their minor league system.
Here was an organization that pulled starting pitcher after starting pitcher from the farm to the Show: The “Big 3” (Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito) were all drafted by the A’s, as were perfect game artist Dallas Braden, essential 2012 mid-rotation SPs Dan Straily and A.J. Griffin, Rich Harden...the list goes on and on.
And then there’s the list that just didn’t go on and on.