The Athletics wasted zero time buttoning up their 2026 draft class, and the latest domino to fall is a name Georgia Tech fans know well. Alex Hernandez, the Yellow Jackets' do-everything outfielder/first baseman, signed for the full slot number tied to the No. 143 overall pick.
5th-rder Alex Hernandez signs w/@Athletics for $516,300 (full slot 143 value). @GTBaseball OF/1B, good swing decisions & exit velocities, up to 93 mph on the mound when he pitched as a freshman. @MLBDraft
$516,300 is exactly what a 5th-round slot pays out, so there's no hometown discount or under-slot maneuvering here — Oakland just paid the number. That matters for a front office that's been aggressive about spreading bonus pool money around instead of hoarding it for one first-rounder, and it signals the org sees Hernandez as more than organizational depth.
The profile lines up with that price tag. Callis flagged the swing decisions and exit velocities as the carrying skills, and the numbers back it up — Hernandez hit .343 with a 1.033 OPS and 13 homers across 55 games this past season, and a year earlier he broke Matt Wieters' Georgia Tech freshman RBI record with 69 while picking up ACC Freshman of the Year honors. Across two seasons in Atlanta he hit .359 with a 1.064 OPS, 29 homers and 126 RBI.
There's also a little two-way trivia buried in the profile: Hernandez reportedly touched 93 mph off the mound as a freshman before fully committing to the bat. That's not the reason Oakland drafted him, but it's the kind of arm strength that plays well from an outfield corner and gives scouts another data point on the overall athlete.
Hernandez isn't walking into the organization alone, either. He's the second Yellow Jacket the A's took in this draft, joining teammate Drew Burress, who Oakland grabbed with its first-round pick just days earlier. Georgia Tech reportedly set a program record with 8 players drafted this year, and Oakland walking away with two of them says something about how the A's front office valued that roster.
None of this moves the needle on the big-league club today, but this is exactly how a farm system gets restocked — take the college bat with the swing decisions everyone likes, pay the number, and let player development sort out the rest. A's fans have had to squint for reasons for optimism the last few years; a fully-signed, well-regarded college bat at full slot is a small one, but it's a real one.