Beneath is an evaluation of the prospects within the farm system of the Athletics. Scouting stories have been compiled with info supplied by business sources in addition to our personal observations. That is the fifth 12 months we’re delineating between two anticipated aid roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see within the “place” column under: MIRP for multi-inning aid pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning aid pitchers. The ETAs listed typically correspond to the 12 months a participant must be added to the 40-man roster to keep away from being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Handbook changes are made the place they appear applicable, however we use that as a rule of thumb.
A fast overview of what FV (Future Worth) means will be discovered right here. A a lot deeper overview will be discovered right here.
The entire ranked prospects under additionally seem on The Board, a useful resource the positioning presents that includes sortable scouting info for each group. It has extra particulars (and up to date TrackMan information from numerous sources) than this text and integrates each crew’s checklist so readers can examine prospects throughout farm methods. It may be discovered right here.
Different Prospects of Word
Grouped by kind and listed so as of desire inside every class.
Excessive-Variance Guys
Jose Ramos, OF
Rodney Inexperienced, OF
Max Durrington, SS
Dylan Fien, C
Erick Matos, RHP
Clark Elliott, LF
Donny Troconis, RHP
Ramos signed for $1.2 million in January, however struck out a 3rd of the time within the DSL. He’s an excellent speedy, lanky athlete who was probably at all times going to take a very long time to develop. Inexperienced was the A’s 2024 fourth rounder out of Cal, the place he had a profession .946 OPS. He has above-average lefty energy, but additionally hit device query marks. Durrington is a lefty-hitting 17-year-old Australian shortstop with plus velocity and below-average bat velocity proper now. Fien is a 6-foot-3 switch-hitting catcher who was signed away from UCLA for $550,000. He has an incredible athletic basis and a few of his swings are horny wanting, however he wants a ton of polish at principally the whole lot. Matos is a projectable 6-foot-4 Cuban righty who signed for $700,000 in January. He sits 92-93 and struggled badly with walks throughout his debut. Elliott has struggled to get on the sector since he was drafted in 2022 and hasn’t but escaped A-ball. Like Inexperienced, the way in which Elliott’s palms work creates good energy but additionally leaves him susceptible to excessive warmth, and as a left field-only defender, that doesn’t fly. Troconis is a uncooked, projectable 6-foot-4 19-year-old whose heater will creep into the mid-90s.
Tweeners
Davis Diaz, C/INF
Brennan Milone, 1B/2B
Brayan Buelvas, OF
Diaz is making an attempt to stroll the Dominic Keegan path, the place he goes from being a vanilla Vanderbilt infielder to a legit catching prospect. He’s making an attempt a conversion and appeared okay in Stockton on the finish of final 12 months. Eric was excessive on him in highschool. Milone was the A’s 2022 sixth rounder out of Oregon. He’s a 40-grade 1B/2B defender who controls the zone nicely, however he doesn’t fairly pack the house run punch you need out of somebody along with his defensive profile. Buevlas has 40-grade offensive instruments and is a tweener defender.
Good Breaker or Good Changeup
Jacob Watters, RHP
Jackson Finley, RHP
Ryan Brown, RHP
Kyle Robinson, RHP
Micah Dallas, RHP
Watters, a 2022 fourth rounder from West Virginia, repeated Excessive-A in 2024 and once more had a bloated ERA, however his breaking ball is nice sufficient to maintain monitoring him. Finley barely pitched at Georgia Tech because of a surgical procedure and the pandemic. He’ll contact 96 and present you a great sweeper, which wasn’t something near his pitch in school. Brown was Oregon State’s nearer in 2023 however has been developed in a piggyback/swingman function thus far in professional ball. He’s a free righty wih a great changeup and a 91 mph fastball. A protracted, projectable right-hander who turned a excessive profile man at Texas Tech, Robinson lasted till the eleventh spherical of the 2024 draft after an underwhelming 12 months. Regardless of his top, he produces below-average extension in his supply, which hinders his 91-94 mph fastball. Robinson’s finest secondary pitch is his changeup, which has late depth, and in addition flashes a two-plane slider that he struggles to land within the zone with consistency. Did you imply, “Micah Parsons?” No, Bing. Dallas, a senior signal out of Texas A&M (three prior years at Tech) has a plus slider, however below-average different stuff and management.
Out of Management Velocity
Franck De La Rosa, RHP
Pedro Santos, RHP
Tyler Baum, RHP
De La Rosa is a 6-foot-8, 24-year-old Dominican righty who struck out 31.5% of the batters he confronted in his 26 innings of labor in 2024. He sits 95-97 and curbed his walks early within the season earlier than regressing to his untenable profession imply afterward. Santos is 6-foot-4, 275 pound Cuban righty who works with downhill aircraft within the 95-98 mph vary. He has 20 management. Baum was the crew’s 2019 second rounder out of North Carolina. He’s grow to be a mid-90s reliever with 4 pitches and poor management.
System Overview
That is a median farm system, perhaps a shade under if you happen to contemplate how shallow the 40+ and above FV tiers are as a gaggle. A number of key graduates from the final couple of years have begun to determine themselves on the huge league stage, a few of them forward of schedule. As this checklist was getting wrapped up, a scout supply talked about that what the Athletics and Nationals have finished the final two years — the place they’ve aggressively promoted their younger gamers to the large leagues, and allow them to expertise rising pains and changes — has made these groups plenty of enjoyable to observe, and may thrust them again into competition prior to anticipated. The emergence of Lawrence Butler and the expansion of Shea Langeliers are probably the most notable A’s examples. Now, we’ll collectively look to Tyler Soderstrom, Ken Waldichuk, Darell Hernaiz, Zack Gelof, and others to exhibit progress like this, whereas Nick Kurtz and Jacob Wilson are more likely to contribute fairly rapidly as nicely.
The A’s will transition from “respectable” to “aggressive” as quick as they will purchase and develop sufficient pitching to help the enjoyable, younger lineup they’ve received cooking (each their finances and ballpark scenario make it unlikely they’ll signal influence free brokers). Whereas they’ve some strong mid-staff and lower-leverage choices able to contribute in 2025, there aren’t any mature high-impact arms right here. Luis Morales may be a Yadier Alvarez sequel — he’s that uncooked — however his expertise and potential for All-Star outcomes demand that he be stuffed on this checklist.
The A’s are usually energetic in various areas on the worldwide newbie market. They have an inclination to not commit their total bonus pool to teenage Dominican and Venezuelan gamers and find yourself signing numerous Cuban, Taiwanese and Australian gamers, a lot of whom hit the market late. There are rumors they’re the favorites to signal Japanese two-way excessive schooler Shotaro Morii, who withdrew from final month’s NPB draft to pursue alternatives in MLB.
Within the home draft, the Athletics have tended to focus on gamers from the western a part of the nation with their earlier picks and over-slot offers (Ontario has additionally been fertile). They’ve tended to obtain bulk when making vendor’s trades throughout this rebuilding period, usually getting two or three gamers again each time they make a deal. It has helped them climb from the very backside of the farm system rankings as much as what’s going to most likely be close to the center, all whereas the large league crew will get extra attention-grabbing. Letting William Contreras go to the Brewers within the Sean Murphy commerce might be robust to dwell down, however issues are wanting up on the sector in, uh, A’sville, wherever that’s.
