The Athletics have been quietly stacking one of the more interesting draft classes in baseball this month, and the newest domino to fall is Gabe Gaeckle. The Arkansas right-hander, taken with a supplemental second-round pick, put pen to paper on a $1.25 million bonus, a number that blows past the $1,156,400 slot value attached to pick No. 73.
Supplemental 2nd-rder Gabe Gaeckle signs w/@Athletics for $1.25 million (slot 73 value = $1,156,400). @RazorbackBSB RHP, electric arm, fastball up to 98 mph & good metrics, tight mid-80s slider, starter upside but stuff has played better out of the bullpen. @MLBDraft
The scouting report is the fun part. Gaeckle brings a fastball that touches 98 mph paired with a tight mid-80s slider, the kind of two-pitch combo that makes evaluators start whispering "bullpen weapon" even when a guy has starter experience. Callis noted the stuff has actually played up better out of relief, which tracks for a college arm with big velocity and a breaking ball that misses bats in shorter bursts.
Gaeckle spent three seasons in Fayetteville and closed out his Razorbacks career going 6-3 with a 4.14 ERA and 87 strikeouts across 71.2 innings, making 12 starts in 20 total appearances. That swingman usage lines up exactly with the profile Callis described: a guy whose raw arm strength might ultimately be best deployed in shorter stints in the majors, even if Oakland lets him keep stretching out as a starter for now.
This is part of a bigger pattern for the Athletics front office, who went almost exclusively college-heavy with their 2026 draft class and reportedly signed 21 players out of a bonus pool north of $13.8 million. The headliner was Georgia Tech outfielder Drew Burress, the No. 8 overall pick, who reportedly got $7.5 million. Gaeckle's deal is a much smaller line item by comparison, but it's the kind of value pick — paying over slot for a power arm who fell to the supplemental second round — that fills out a farm system rather than anchors it.
None of these arms are going to move the needle in Oakland's big-league bullpen this year, but that's not the point. The A's have been rebuilding through volume and stuff for a couple cycles now, betting that enough mid-90s-plus arms with bat-missing sliders eventually turn into usable relievers or trade chips even if only a fraction hit. Gaeckle, at 98 mph with a plus slider and multi-inning experience, is exactly the type of dice roll that front office likes to make.