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Analysis of Oakland Athletics Farm System
Below is an analysis of the prospects in the farm system of the Oakland Athletics. Scouting reports were compiled with information provided by industry sources as well as my own observations. This is the fourth year we’re delineating between two anticipated relief roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see in the “position” column below: MIRP for multi-inning relief pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning relief pitchers. The ETAs listed generally correspond to the year a player has to be added to the 40-man roster to avoid being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Manual adjustments are made where they seem appropriate, but we use that as a rule of thumb.
A quick overview of what FV (Future Value) means can be found here. A much deeper overview can be found here. All of the ranked prospects below also appear on The Board, a resource the site offers featuring sortable scouting information for every organization. It has more details (and updated TrackMan data from various sources) than this article and integrates every team’s list so readers can compare prospects across farm systems. It can be found here.
Other Prospects of Note
Enormous Pitchers
- Pedro Santos, RHP
- Eduardo Rivera, LHP
- Franck De La Rosa, RHP
- Yunior Tur, RHP
Santos, 24, is a 6-foot-4 Cuban righty who sits 95-98 but struggles to find the zone. He’s closing at Midland right now. Rivera, 20, is a 6-foot-7 Puerto Rican lefty with average arm strength but a shot to develop three good pitches. De La Rosa, 23, is a 6-foot-8 Dominican righty who sits 95-97 and is off to a better strike-throwing start than at any other time in his career, albeit at Low-A. Tur, 24, is a 6-foot-6 Cuban righty whose low-90s fastball routinely has 20 inches of induced vertical break; the rest of his repertoire is suspect.
Other Hard Throwers
- Shohei Tomioka, RHP
- Danis Correa, RHP
- Jack Perkins, RHP
- Jacob Watters, RHP
- Felix Castro, RHP
Tomioka, 28, played ball at Toyo University and then in the Industrial League in Japan while he held down a job packing medical supplies. He responded to an A’s tryout call and touched 95 there. Correa was a longtime “bottom of the list” prospect with the Cubs. There have been stretches when he has shown cutting upper-90s heat and a plus changeup, but he’s never been able to throw strikes or stay healthy for very long. At times, Perkins and Watters have looked like fastball/slider middle relief guys, but Perkins has been hurt frequently and Watters’ results have been unspectacular. Castro is an ACL arm to watch, a reliever-y righty with 93-95 mph fastballs, a promising cutter and a changeup.
Pitchability Depth
- Gunnar Hoglund, RHP
- Blake Beers, RHP
- Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang, RHP
Hoglund, a former first-round pick and mid-rotation starter prospect, hasn’t quite had a velocity rebound since his Tommy John. He’s having more success so far this year at Double-A Midland, where he’s sitting 92 with below-average secondary stuff. A 2021 19th rounder out of Michigan, Beers is a Double-A kitchen sink righty with starter-quality control, though he lacks a swing-and-miss weapon. Zhuang is a 23-year-old Taiwanese righty who sits 92 with ride and run. He has a decent mid-70s curveball and busts out a splitter and cutter against lefties. His 2024 is off to a great start.
Tough Profiles
- Henry Bolte, RF
- Clark Elliott, LF
- Brayan Buelvas, CF
- Colby Thomas, LF
- Brennan Milone, 1B/3B
Bolte, 20, is a former second-round pick who is currently struggling on defense and striking out nearly 40% of the time. Elliott, currently on the IL, lacks the well-rounded offensive game to profile in left field. Buelvas is a classic tweener upper-level depth guy. Thomas is an older, physical outfielder at Double-A Midland. Milone is a pretty well-rounded hitter who has trended from 3B/2B to 1B/3B.
Pet Projects
- Max Schuemann, UTIL
- Yeniel Laboy, 3B
- Tom Reisinger, RHP
Schuemann is a super versatile defender similar to Andrew Velazquez. Laboy is a well-built 19-year-old infielder with above-average bat speed. Reisinger is a small school prospect with a naturally cutting upper-80s fastball and plus breaking ball.
System Overview
This system is in rough shape, with below-average depth and slightly below-average impact up top. Recently acquired players have not panned out as expected, leaving the system lacking high-end impact talent. It’s disappointing considering the talent that was traded away in recent years. The A’s are still playing catch-up in the realm of technology implementation and use, which has contributed to their struggles across the entire organization. Despite these challenges, there are still a few promising prospects in the system who may make an impact in the future.
