6′4", 215lbs
Hits: Right
Throws: Right
School: Pepperdine University
Bio: Pepperdine 

Baseball America isn’t so hot on this pick:

Righthander Brett Hunter (51) was considered one of the top college pitching prospects heading into the 2008 season, but arm soreness wiped out much of his spring season. His unorthodox mechanics don’t ease scout’s concern about his health issues, nor do command problems that have plagued him in the past.

But A’s scouting director Eric Kubota says the A’s went into things with their eyes open, telling MLB.com, "If he ends up being healthy, he’ll be a great bargain [...] He’s got a premium arm and was one of the premium picks in the Draft, and we took him understanding he’s not fully healthy right now."

One other thing to consider - what’s the likelihood of this kid choosing to not sign his contract offer, when he doesn’t know how he’s going to recover from his injury? What agent would tell him to chance going back to school and coming out not just a senior, but with another potentially iffy season under his belt?

The A’s will gamble that Hunter signs a lower-than-expected deal, and Hunter will likely do just that.

As for what he’s got to offer when healthy, he went 3-0 with a 0.66 ERA in 14 relief appearances for Team USA last year, and though he didn’t get a lot of starts in the most recent college season, he did go 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA, striking 19 batters out in 18.2 innings.

That’s fair form if your arm is hanging off.

Recently, coming back in his first appearance after a season-long injury, Hunter reportedly threw 92mph and was clearly holding back. Before he got injured, his fastball was usually described as ‘plus, plus, plus’, so this is a good high-upside gamble for the A’s in the Craig Italiano ‘all speed, all the time’ mold.