Although the A’s system is still thin, it’s also incredibly well stocked with players who will help the major-league club this year, more so than any other club that isn’t actively rebuilding right now.
The Top 10
1. A.J. Puk, LHP (Top 100 rank: No. 21)
From the Top 100: Puk was threatening to make the A’s out of spring training in 2018 when his elbow snapped, knocking him out for the entire season and the first two-plus months of 2019. When he returned, the A’s chose to rehab him as a reliever so that he might be ready to help the major-league team in September — which he did, with 11 innings that saw him average 97 mph on his fastball and just short of 90 on his slider. The A’s helped Puk rework his delivery in 2017 to turn him into a legit front-end starter prospect, getting him more consistency and better extension out front. He’s a three-pitch guy whose changeup was better in his return than his slider, although his breaking stuff may just be slower in returning after surgery, and he does have a traditional curveball that’s clearly his fourth-best pitch. He may never have the command to be an ace, but he looks like he’ll miss enough bats with the three primary weapons to be a good No. 2.
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2. Jesús Luzardo, LHP (Top 100 rank: No. 26)
From the Top 100: Luzardo was the main piece the A’s received in the 2017 trade that sent Sean Doolittle and Ryan Madson to the Nationals, even though he was just a few outings back after missing a year-plus after Tommy John surgery. Since then, he’s been dominant when healthy, but often injured; he’s thrown 164 innings in the last two calendar years, including his September callup last year. He’s been up to 97 mph and can sit 92-95 as a starter, with an above-average change and curveball that became plus when he pitched in relief for the big club. Luzardo threw 51 curves and got big-league hitters to swing and miss at 13 (25.5 percent). If he can hold up as a starter, he has a higher pure ceiling than teammate A.J. Puk, with better secondaries and probably better present command. But he just hasn’t shown a track record of durability or health, even going back to high school, to instill confidence that he can take the ball 30 times.
3. Sean Murphy, C (Top 100 rank: No. 36)
From the Top 100: Murphy could be a star if he could just stay healthy — he’s 25 now and still has yet to play 100 games in any season, but he has huge power, can catch, and has an 80 arm. He can murder a fastball, and makes consistently hard contact when he squares one up, while all manner of offspeed stuff gives him trouble. He’s a top-shelf defender behind the plate with one of the best throwing arms of any catcher in baseball, earning very high marks from the A’s for his blocking, receiving, game-calling and work with pitchers. His main issue remains staying on the field: Going back to his junior year at Wright State, he’s broken both hamate bones (fortunately, he only has two), suffered a meniscus tear in his left knee that eventually required surgery, missed time in 2017 with a sore hand and had a staph infection that cost him a month in his first pro summer. If he gets 120 games this year, he’ll likely hit 20-plus homers, draw his share of walks and provide at least a win of value with his glove. Even if he hits .240 or so, he has enough of everything else that he’ll still be a very valuable regular.
4. Nick Allen, SS
Allen’s season ended after 72 games due to a severe ankle sprain from an awkward slide, but prior to that he’d showed significant progress at the plate, focusing on making contact and using the middle of the field without trying to hit for power. He hit .292/.363/.434 in the High-A California League with 13 steals, and continued to play plus defense at short, although the A’s gave him some starts at second as well. He was healthy enough to return for a little time in the AFL, so he should be ready to go for 2020. I think he’s a regular at short because of his defense and the potential for high OBPs.
5. Daulton Jefferies, RHP
Jefferies has been slowed by a shoulder injury and then Tommy John surgery since his junior year at Cal, but was healthy enough in 2019 to make 15 starts and appear in 26 games in total, walking just 9 batters in 79 innings. He was 90-94 with plus control, an above-average changeup and two average breaking balls, enough to see him as a fourth starter if he can stay healthy (he already left his first spring training start with a right biceps injury).
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6. Logan Davidson, SS
Oakland’s first-round pick in 2019 was probably a top-10 pick based on pure tools, but the Clemson shortstop had a miserable summer on the Cape followed by a junior year where he struck out more often than he should have, allowing the A’s to get him later in the round. He has the upside of a 20/20 hitter who plays above-average defense at short, but his mechanics at the plate are so inconsistent that he’s had trouble getting to the power, especially after signing last summer.
7. Jorge Mateo, SS/2B
Mateo went from 3 homers in Triple A in 2018 to 19 last year, due in part to the Happy Fun Ball but also to a change in his approach to try to hit the ball in the seats more often, even though that’s probably not the hitter he should be. He’s a 70 or 80 runner depending on the day and has bat speed, but he’s not built for power and he’s too free a swinger as it is. He has the range and arm for shortstop, but is erratic there and may be better in center field. There’s still star upside here, but despite the home run total his 2019 season was a step in the wrong direction.
8. James Kaprielian, RHP
Kaprielian was part of the return for Sonny Gray while he was still recovering from Tommy John surgery, and setbacks in his rehab kept him out for another full year, with his return to the mound finally coming in May of 2019. His stuff was mostly back, but not all the way to the upper 90s, while he threw strikes at all three stops (High A, Double A and Triple A). Prior to the injuries he looked like a future number one starter, with the huge fastball, a plus slider, two more pitches, control, and a strong build, but that’s on hold until we see how much his stuff returns and what kind of workload he can handle.
9. Robert Puason, SS
Puason signed for $5.1 million with Oakland in July as one of the top two prospects in the international class last year. He’s tall and lanky with a projectable frame, and is a plus runner with a 70 arm. A switch-hitter, he has a pretty swing without a lot of extraneous movement, but he hasn’t shown scouts much plate discipline or patience so far. He turned 17 in September and probably will go to the DSL this year.
10. Sheldon Neuse, 3B/2B
Neuse, acquired from Washington with Luzardo in the Sean Doolittle trade, is a solid utility infielder who can help at third or second, fill in at short on an emergency basis, and hit left-handed pitching. He has doubles power, but the 27 homers he hit in Triple A last year were probably more a function of the PCL and the juiced baseball than newfound home run power.
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The next 10
11. Luis Barrera, OF
Barrera was off to a strong start in Double A when a shoulder injury ended his season after 54 games; he makes a lot of hard, line-drive contact without big power – he actually had more triples than doubles last year – but doesn’t walk enough or play good enough defense to profile as a regular.
12. Tyler Baum, RHP
Baum was up to 97 this spring as a starter for North Carolina but had trouble holding velocity deep into starts; he pitched well after signing but lost his breaking ball. He has fourth starter upside if he gets it back and can hold at least above-average velocity for 90-100 pitches.
13. Marcus Smith, OF
Smith, their third-round pick out of a Kansas City private school, profiles as a potential centerfielder and leadoff guy with good plate discipline, although his swing is a bit flat for power. He posted a .466 OBP in the AZL, which would have ranked fourth in the league had he qualified, with 20 walks in 119 PA.
14. Jonah Heim, C
Heim has always had a backup catcher-with-power floor, but some small adjustments last year, including staying closed better at the plate, boosted his OBP and contact rates, while the A’s praise him for his work behind the plate as well. He might just be a late bloomer on offense, like a lot of catchers, and has a shot to become a regular.
15. Greg Deichmann, OF
Deichmann broke a hamate bone in 2018, came back a little too soon (in hindsight) in 2019, then rolled over his shoulder and sprained his AC joint, missing two months last summer. After he came back, his wrist strength seemed to have returned; he hit 4 homers in 20 games the rest of the regular season, then 9 more in 23 games in the hitter-friendly AFL, leading the league with more than twice the next-best total.
16. Austin Beck, OF
Beck was their first-round pick in 2017, and the tools that made him so are all still present, but it’s been a rough go in pro ball; in High A last year, he struck out in 34 percent of his PA without the walks or power to make you overlook it. He can still play centerfield and runs plus, with raw power he just doesn’t get to in games.
17. Parker Dunshee, RHP
Dunshee dominated Double A but struggled in Las Vegas, a hitting paradise in any year, giving up 21 homers in 96 innings, so perhaps there’s a limit to what Dunshee can do with a basket of average pitches and some deception that made his fastball hard for hitters below Triple A to hit. I’d still like to see what he can do in a neutral environment with a more typical baseball, though.
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18. Jeremy Eierman, SS
Eierman was part of the same Stockton roster as Beck and Lazarito (see below) that struck out 1,365 times in 2019, more than nine major-league teams did even though Stockton played 24 fewer games. A toolsy shortstop from Missouri State who was Oakland’s Competitive Balance Round B pick in 2018, Eierman’s bat wasn’t ready for High A, as he struck in out 34 percent of his PA and only hit 13 homers. He can handle shortstop, and if he manages to cut down on the strikeouts he has 20/20 upside; maybe he could start his hands lower so he doesn’t wrap his bat or bar out so easily, both of which make his path to the zone longer.
19. Dustin Harris, 1B/3B
Their 11th-round pick out of St. Petersburg Junior College in 2019, Harris started in the AZL but hit so well the team bumped him up to short-season Vermont, where he continued to hit and get on base. He has untapped power but hit just 1 home run last summer and puts the ball on the ground too often right now, but if the A’s can unlock the power he has everyday potential even at first.
20. Hogan Harris, LHP
Harris was the team’s third-round pick in 2018 but didn’t pitch for the A’s until June of 2019 due to an elbow sprain, the latest in a series of injuries for the southpaw, who’ll pitch at 90-94 mph with depth on a breaking ball from a high three-quarters slot.
2020 impact
Puk and Luzardo are among the team’s top five starters right now and should make the Opening Day rotation, while Murphy looks set to seize the starting catcher’s job. Health permitting, Kaprielian and Jefferies could help this year as starters or relievers. Neuse is ready for bench role, while Mateo may be better suited playing regularly in Triple A than sitting on the bench in the majors, where he’d be behind Marcus Semien and Franklin Barreto right now, but he’s out of options.
The fallen
I know left fielder Lazaro Armenteros is just 21, but he led the minors with 227 strikeouts – 37 more than the next-highest total – and led all full-season players with a 42.2 percent strikeout rate. The $3 million bonus baby from Cuba has not learned to recognize breaking stuff in over 1,000 minor league PA, and the odds of him doing so keep going down.
Sleeper
Marcus Smith is the most interesting name from beyond their top five because he seemed, in a small sample, so unusually polished for a cold-weather high school kid, and because he has some athleticism to go along with it.
(Photo: Chris Carlson / AP Photo)
