Welcome to the start of another week A\u2019s fans!<\/p>\n
While major league baseball is in its offseason now, the sport is still being played down in Arizona where team\u2019s younger prospects can get extra work over the winter. It\u2019s a heavily abbreviated mini-season and it\u2019s nearing the end here. With just two more games to go before the playoffs (which feature three rounds), it\u2019s time to take a look back and see how certain prospects in the system have done with the extra work.<\/p>\n
The Athletics sent seven players to go play for the Mesa Solar Sox this year. It\u2019s not looking too good for them to advance to the playoffs so they likely only have a couple games left this year. Among the players the A\u2019s sent were four pitchers, two catchers, and an outfielder. And among those seven, four are among the Athletics\u2019 top 30 prospects.<\/p>\n
The most notable name among the group is the outfielder, Breyson Guedez. Currently the third-best outfield prospect in the system, Guedez just turned 19 last month but made it to High-A this past season, his first in pro ball. For someone so young there\u2019s still lots of ways his career could go. Not many expect him to have much power, or speed but he\u2019s a quality hitter that\u2019s still extremely young and these at bats he\u2019s been getting in the AFL are exactly what he needs. While he\u2019s been getting the work, the results haven\u2019t been there as he\u2019s slashing just .164\/.271\/.213 with no home runs, no stolen bases, and a worrying 18-to-7 K-to-BB ratio.<\/p>\n
Catchers are something that the A\u2019s have done well developing over the years and the two they\u2019re currently working on both went to the AFL. Considered a top-20 prospect, Davis Diaz looks like he\u2019s on the cusp of making his big league debut after rising from High-A to the Aviators last year. Davis has displayed his quality eye in the batter\u2019s box in recent weeks, walking nearly as much as he\u2019s walked while hitting .271\/.400\/.391 with one long ball. Already 23, he\u2019s not likely to develop much more power so he\u2019s going to have to rely on his ability to put the bat to the ball in the big leagues, and he\u2019s demonstrated that again. Add in he\u2019s positionally flexible and he\u2019ll be an option for the big league team next year.<\/p>\n
Fellow catcher Cole Conn (#21 according to MLB Pipelin) hasn\u2019t played as much as Diaz but he\u2019s had a quality time in Arizona as well. He\u2019s got four doubles in just nine games played, though with no long balls. More impressively, he\u2019s bested Diaz\u2019s eye with a 8-to-6 K-to-BB ratio while adding in four stolen bases. Fast catcher. Conn crushed Triple-A pitching at the end of last year and that could put him ahead of Diaz on the organizational depth chart.<\/p>\n
Four pitchers in the system also made appearances for the Solar Sox this year. Right-hander Kenya Huggins has absolutely dominated as he\u2019s pitched 10 1\/3 innings of relief and allowed just two runs while collecting 13 strikeouts. Acquired from the Reds for half a season of Miguel Andujar, Huggins looks like a steal at this point but his long-term role is still being determined.<\/p>\n
Journeyman right-hander Jared Johnson was also among the contingent sent by the A\u2019s. He\u2019s pitched in seven games and allowed six earned runs. There doesn\u2019t seem to be much upside there but he pitched for the Aviators last year and could be a depth piece at some point next season. Fellow righty Jay Dill is a recent 18th-round pick by the A\u2019s and spent most of last year at Double-A with mixed results. Things continued that way for Dill as he\u2019s been tagged for seven earned runs in just 5 1\/3 innings pitched. And finally we have a left-hander in Tucker Novotny. The 23-year-old has turned some heads with a strong AFL. He\u2019s made three starts (five total appearances) and has allowed just five earned runs in 13 12\/3 innings. The walks have been an issue but he\u2019s also racked up 16 punchouts. Another 18th rounder, the southpaw only just made it to High-A last year so he\u2019s got a long ways to go before he becomes an option for the big league team.<\/p>\n
A mixed bag, to be sure, but not without positives. The two catchers in particular seem like decent bets to make their big league debuts in the coming season, especially if the A\u2019s elect to move star catcher Shea Langeliers. Heck, the A\u2019s do still need a backup catcher as of this moment. Could one of them break camp as Bangeliers\u2019 backup? This AFL made that a real possibility.<\/p>\n
Have a great start to your week everyone.<\/p>\n
I mean, it makes sense with Leo coming. But it\u2019d sure be selling low:<\/p>\n
Interesting. Shouldn\u2019t really affect the A\u2019s, but still interesting:<\/p>\n
A look ahead to some potential A\u2019s targets next winter, when the checkbook is supposed to open up:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to the start of another week A\u2019s fans! While major league baseball is in its offseason now,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":911494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[240699,363,99],"class_list":["post-911493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-athletics-news","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/911494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}