The A’s contend year-in and year-out without the benefit of a great farm system, boosting the team through trades and some smart finds on waivers or in the low end of free agency, along with the very occasional Matt Chapman. They’ve also had absolutely miserable luck with college pitchers — A.J. Puk and Daulton Jefferies, both drafted by Oakland, keep getting hurt, while James Kaprielian, acquired in trade, took more than two years to get back from Tommy John surgery.
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1. A.J. Puk, LHP (Top 100 rank: No. 84)
From the Top 100: Puk and Jesús Luzardo seemed to be tied at the hip as they marched toward the majors in 2019, both with troublesome injury histories and premium stuff, but Luzardo stayed healthy enough to pitch a full season in 2020 while Puk had to have surgery on his shoulder. The procedure was supposedly minimal, cleaning out the joint, and his rehab is apparently going very well, so he’s still Oakland’s top prospect. Puk was sitting 97 mph in relief in the majors in 2019, with a power slider up to 90 mph, and his changeup was actually the better of his two offspeed pitches. The A’s reworked his delivery after drafting him to make better use of his 6-foot-7 frame, getting him to finish better over his front side, and he seemed on track to be an above-average starter even with what would probably be fringy command in the end. If his stuff is intact after the latest operation, that’s still his ceiling.
2. Tyler Soderstrom, C/3B
The early consensus on Soderstrom from instructs is that he can really, really hit, and that he really isn’t a catcher. The A’s will probably continue to develop him there in the short term, but if his bat is as advanced as it appears — he has a good swing, a pretty sound approach, and shows plus power in BP — they’ll have more incentive to move him to third base so he can play every day and avoid some of the wear and tear of the backstop position.
3. Nick Allen, SS
Allen could play shortstop in the majors right now, but his bat isn’t ready for it as he still needs to get stronger, and will probably always face doubts because he’s 5-foot-8. He has gotten into trouble by trying to hit the ball in the air too much, as his game should be making line-drive contact and eschewing any overt attempts to hit for power; he was better in this regard in 2019, with a .363 OBP in High A and just a 15.8 percent strikeout rate at age 20. If he gets enough hand and wrist strength to hit even .240 in the majors, he’ll be a valuable player because of his eye and his defense, but he’s already added a lot of forearm muscle and there may not be another gear.
4. Logan Davidson, SS
Davidson was Oakland’s first-rounder in 2019 after a disappointing 12 months that saw him struggle badly on the Cape and not entirely right the ship in his junior spring at Clemson. He’s tall and lanky for a shortstop and will probably be pushed to third base, if not by his own growth. At the plate, he’s been far too prone to swing-and-miss, especially when he’s behind in the count, but the A’s feel like they’ve made progress with his approach and stance since he last played in games in the summer of 2019. He can show you a pretty left-handed swing with good loft and power to the opposite field, along with enough speed to steal 15-20 bags a year, as long as he hits to get it.
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5. Jeff Criswell, RHP
Criswell was mostly a two-pitch guy up to 95 mph at Michigan, but was showing four pitches and hitting 97 mph in instructs, with a cleaner delivery than the violent one he’d had before the shutdown. Criswell’s slider was a swing-and-miss pitch in college and it’s gotten sharper now, while his changeup, which he barely used in school, was flashing plus in instructs too. I wasn’t a huge fan of Criswell in the draft because the delivery screamed “reliever,” but this is a different guy and, with some further cleanup, he could be a mid-rotation starter.
6. Daulton Jefferies, RHP
Jefferies was hurt in his draft year in 2016, signed as a competitive balance round selection with the A’s, then missed nearly all of 2017 and 2018 around Tommy John surgery, throwing just 99 1/3 innings between the draft and this season, when he made his major-league debut. He’s a command right-hander who’ll pitch at 92-95 mph with a plus changeup and high spin on his curveball, but since his return, we haven’t seen him stretched out beyond three innings — every outing he had in 2019 except for two involved him getting exactly nine outs, and the others were 10 outs and 11. He’s a starter by command and by stuff, probably a good No. 4 if he can handle the workload.
7. James Kaprielian, RHP
Kaprielian debuted in the majors in 2020 like his former rehab-mate Jefferies, as the two underwent Tommy John surgery around the same time, with Kaprielian missing all of 2017 and 2018 after a 2016 season that made him one of the best pitching prospects in baseball. He averaged 95 mph in the majors, a bit below what he was before the surgery, and had good results with his short slider because hitters struggle to pick up the pitch out of his hand. He’s upright through his delivery and doesn’t get on top of the ball for big-time spin, so his curveball is still behind the other pitches, but if he’s a reliever now due to his arm woes, that might not matter much. He’s super aggressive and his stuff could still come a little further back to make him an impact guy out of the ‘pen.
8. Robert Puason, SS
Puason got a $5.1 million bonus from the A’s in 2019 as one of the top free agents on the international market on the basis of his athletic 6-foot-3 build and potential plus defense at short, but so far he’s looked extremely inconsistent in the field, and there are real questions of whether he’s going to hit. He’s a plus runner now with a laser for an arm; he’s a switch-hitter and his left-handed swing looks clean enough, but he hasn’t shown enough ability to square up the ball when scouts have seen him. In the field, he’s capable of making difficult plays with good lateral range, but he’s mistake-prone and may play well below his tools. He’ll be 18 for all of the 2021 season and has time to improve, but the early returns aren’t great.
9. Greg Deichmann, OF
Deichmann suffered a broken hamate bone in 2018 that sapped his power well into the next year, finally gaining some of that hand strength back in time for the Arizona Fall League, where he hit nine homers in 23 games. He has 25-homer potential in the big leagues, and is probably a solid Three True Outcomes hitter with enough walks and a few more strikeouts than you’d like, as well as average defense in right with a plus arm.
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10. Luis Barrera, OF
Barrera’s plan at the plate is to see the ball and hit it, which has worked so far as he hits a lot of line drives, using the whole field, and is a better runner underway. That speed helped him hit 11 triples in just 54 games in Double A in 2019 before shoulder surgery ended his season. He’s a capable center fielder, maybe a little above average, and should hit enough to be a soft regular there, although his limited power and low walk rates probably cap how good he can become.
11. Brayan Buelvas, OF
Buelvas is a hard-nosed, scrappy center fielder with a great work ethic who excelled as a 17-year-old in the Arizona Rookie League in 2019. He doesn’t have a plus tool but can hit a fastball, runs above-average and throws well enough to stay in center. He did struggle with breaking stuff in his U.S. debut, understandable given his age, and needs to get stronger as he’s listed at 5-foot-11, 155 pounds. He has a few paths to the majors, depending on his defense, his on-base skills and any future power.
12. Kyle McCann, C
McCann is also a power-hitting catcher who’s improved behind the plate, blocking and receiving better than he did at Georgia Tech, where he was awful defensively, and learning to work with pitchers. He might have 70 raw power, and he is going to strike out at pretty high rates, but there’s enough of the former to hope he can be a 20-25 homer guy with a .290 OBP who is good enough to stick at catcher.
13. Junior Perez, OF
Acquired from the Padres in November for eternal prospect Jorge Mateo, Perez has plus power already with projection left on his 6-foot-1 frame, along with a lot of swing-and-miss from poor pitch recognition and just average bat speed. He’s a corner outfielder so he’s going to have to hit.
14. Jordan Diaz, 3B
Diaz has very good bat-to-ball skills with a compact swing that doesn’t generate a ton of power, not too dissimilar to fellow Colombian outfielder Harold Ramírez. On defense, he plays third base like a first baseman, and that’s probably where he’s going to end up. His ability to make contact should get him to the big leagues, but he has no chance to be a regular unless he gets some power out of his 5-foot-10, 175-pound frame.
15. Austin Beck, OF
Sometimes bat speed is a double-edged sword. Beck’s bat is so fast that it’s in and out of the zone too quickly, and he doesn’t have the pitch recognition or hand-eye to get the bat head to the ball often enough to counteract that. He’s a plus defender in center now with a cannon of an arm, and there is raw power in there if he can ever get to it, but he has to show he can hit and so far that hasn’t happened anywhere.
16. Grant Holmes, RHP
Holmes has some of the best pure stuff in the system, but he gets hit, as there’s not enough deception in his delivery and his fastball can be very true. He was somewhat better in a half-season in Double A in 2019, but the fear is that he’ll be extremely homer-prone with the MLB baseball. If you just saw him at a game, you’d think he was on his way to being a major-league starter, but he’ll have to change something, or several somethings, to get there.
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17. Drew Millas, C
Millas was the Athletics’ seventh-round pick in 2019 but hasn’t taken a pro at-bat due to a case of deep vein thrombosis in 2019 and the shutdown last year. He’s a switch-hitting catcher with a plus arm and a little pop but didn’t hit that well in college at Missouri State.
18. Michael Guldberg, OF
Guldberg was their third-rounder in 2020, an extreme contact hitter with no power, probably a left fielder after shoulder surgery cost him some arm strength.
19. Tyler Baum, RHP
Baum had hit 97 mph with an above-average curveball in the spring of 2019, leading the A’s to take him in the second round of that draft, but after signing, his velocity drifted down and he lost his breaking ball. When he has everything working, he’ll show three average pitches, nothing really plus, and can throw strikes but without great command because he’s somewhat cross-body in his delivery. He might be a back-end starter.
20. Parker Dunshee, RHP
Dunshee could be a fifth starter for the A’s at some point this year, with a collection of average pitches, a deceptive delivery, and 55 control, although he was extremely homer-prone in the Pacific Coast League in 2019.
2021 impact
Puk, Jefferies and Kaprielian should all see big-league innings if healthy, with the first two possible starters and Kap in the bullpen. Barrera could be a bench piece this year.
Sleeper
My sleeper for them last year was outfielder Marcus Smith, whom they traded to the Rangers for Mike Minor (and who ended up on Texas’ injured list). For this year, I’ll go with Criswell, whose delivery might never be “clean” but who has improved it, and his arsenal, to the point where he might be an above-average starter.
(Photo of A.J. Puk: Kelley L Cox / USA Today)
