Player: Billy McKinneyDrafted by: Oakland Athletics (No. 24 Overall) Position: LF DOB: 8/23/1994 (Age: 18) Height/Weight: 6'2"/195 lbs Bats/Throws: L/L School: Plano West HS (Plano, TX) College Commitment: TCU Background In a draft with Clint Frazier, McKinney appears to have the best pure hit tool of any high school hitter right now. That isn't to say his ceiling is as high as Frazier's—it isn't—but he has a better idea what he is doing today. McKinney has also been lauded for his passion and drive on the field—two elements of the game that tend to get overlooked. For a young man to come into the game with the ...
The Oakland Athletics’ Midwest road trip makes a stop on Thursday for a four-game set in Chicago’s South Side.The White Sox recently returned from an eight-game road trip that included a three-game appearance out in Oakland last week. The A’s swept that series, shutting out the White Sox in two of those games. Chicago will be looking for some redemption against the Athletics. They hope to turn around their season with this four-game set at home, where the they currently own a 13-11 record.The Sox sit in fourth place in the Central Division, six games back of Detroit; while the ...
For the first time since 2002, the Oakland Athletics and Milwaukee Brewers squared off in a regular-season series. Additionally, the last time the Brew Crew played host to the A’s was in 1997, at the old County Stadium—as a member of the American League. Current A’s special assistant Phil Garner was the manager of the Brewers back then. Jeromy Burnitz mashed 27 home runs for Milwaukee that season—the last time Mark McGwire was in green and gold. That was practically a generation ago in baseball years. The two teams reacquainted themselves this week with the 21st century version of each ...
Watch out, the Oakland Athletics may be your like your daddy's team after all.After years of futility, the Athletics are returning to the same form the late 1980s to early 1990s teams experienced.Oakland came out of nowhere and surprised many by winning the division last year on the last day of the season.This year, the A's are continuing their good play, tying the Boston Red Sox with the most wins (36) in the American League entering Wednesday.They are showing that 2012 was no fluke, and teams like Boston, New York, Detroit and Texas better be ready to contend with them.How ...
Earlier this offseason, the Oakland Raiders had several free-agent quarterbacks to look at as well as those on the trading block and those who had declared for the NFL draft.There were many possibilities, including Vince Young and Kevin Kolb as free agents as well as Geno Smith and Matt Barkley as possible draftees. There was also Matt Flynn, the man who became Oakland's choice to be the new QB after trading away Carson Palmer.Usually as the offseason winds down and we get closer to training camp, most teams tend to have a good idea of who the starting quarterback will ...
It always seems as if this scrappy bunch on the Oakland Athletics is counted out year after year. But they always surprise us and compete in the AL West, and this season could be their most surprising one yet.At the beginning of the year, after all the buzz with outfielder and former MVP Josh Hamilton signing with Los Angeles Angels, the A's were left out of the discussion. The big question was whether the Angels or the Texas Rangers would win the division. Could people really have forgotten that the A's put together a comeback for the ages last season and ...
The late, great Al Davis passed away on October 8, 2011, but his impact on the National Football League, its teams and fanbases will never be forgotten.The former owner of the Oakland Raiders was charismatic beyond belief, combining the gumption and slyness of a kid from Brooklyn with the glitz and glamour of California self-promotion.If there were ever a figure in football history that deserved to be profiled by Hollywood with his own biopic, you could certainly argue that Davis would be that man.So, if there were a biopic made on the life and career of Davis, what would the ...
Sitting at 35-25, the 2013 Oakland A's have moved past the one-third point of the baseball season as a playoff team. Much of the team from 2012 has returned, but there have been key additions acquired during the offseason.Even more surprisingly, the team has been led by a returning player in Josh Donaldson that was not expected to be more than a serviceable player at third base. All Donaldson has done is perform at an All-Star level. Other than Coco Crisp, the core of the holdovers from the 2012 team have not played at their levels thus far. Yet, the team sits ...
As a week of OTAs has officially come to a close, the Oakland Raiders are inching closer towards the regular season as the roster continues to take shape.While the team didn't make any major moves since signing Charles Woodson, it's hard to believe this team is finished bringing in new players—something that should increase the competition in training camp.With that said, as Oakland completed its week of organized team activities, we took a look at five guys who had a strong week and impressed the coaches.Begin Slideshow
The NFL offseason is an interesting beast. The media and fans are so starved for stories during the month of June that some of them get blown way out of proportion. That was the case when Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis fired the PR director Zak Gilbert after one year on the job. The media narrative goes something like this:
Davis fired a guy that was hired by Reggie McKenzie, which puts everyone in the organization on notice. Davis fired a guy that had brought the Raiders' media relations out of the dark ages and into the 21st century. Gilbert ...