Athletics Top 38 Prospects

A gigantic individual with enormous strength, Kurtz’s performance plateaued during his junior year at Wake, but he still clubbed more than 20 homers for the second consecutive season and posted a 1.294 OPS. The A’s made him the fourth overall pick and The Colonel reached Double-A by the end of the summer and then picked up Arizona Fall League reps. This is an upward re-evaluation of Kurtz compared to his pre-draft grade, which had him more in the middle of the first round.

Kurtz does some special stuff and has some unique physical characteristics that make him effective. He has plus power generated by big time thunder in his hands, and his swing features a back-side collapse, which creates power-producing loft. Despite his size, Kurtz is a short-levered guy. His front arm basically bars as he loads his hands, but his T-Rex levers help keep his swing from getting too long. He has terrific vertical plate coverage and is a threat to do damage all over the zone. Big league pitchers are likely to attack Kurtz on the outer third with fastballs and changeups, which his short levers/open stride combo sometimes cause him to swing inside. Concerns about covering the outer third of the zone were a big part of why Eric was lower on Kurtz before the draft, but while he does his fair share of whiffing in that location, he’s also incredibly dangerous to the opposite field when pitchers don’t quite execute there. His college (87% z-contact%, 80% overall contact) and post-draft data (86% in-zone, 76% contact, 8% SwStr%) reinforce confidence in his contact ability.

Kurtz isn’t a great athlete or bender, and he plays defense with a high center of gravity but scouts love his first base defense. He might have a relatively short shelf life as an athlete because he’s such a big guy, but now isn’t the time to fret about that. In the immediate future, Kurtz is likely to race to the big leagues and produce like an impact heart-of-the-order hitter at 1B.

Wilson was the best bat-to-ball hitter in all of college baseball during both his sophomore and junior seasons. As a soph, he had the lowest strikeout rate among qualified college hitters at a microscopic 2.8%, while as a junior, Wilson only swung and missed a total of 18 times and posted a whopping 10-to-1 ball-in-play-to-whiff ratio. He ended his college career having hit .361/.419/.558 and became the sixth pick in a loaded draft.

Despite his collegiate success, Wilson was a fairly divisive amateur prospect due to the light, opposite-field nature of much of his contact, as if he were a better-gloved Nick Madrigal sequel. Wilson has allayed some of those concerns in pro ball, as he slashed an incredible .401/.446/.606 combined in the minors across a sample shortened by knee tendonitis. That slugging percentage isn’t emblematic of WIlson’s actual power (by a lot), but performance at that level demanded rapid promotion to the big leagues, where Wilson slashed .250/.314/.315 across 103 PA toward the end of 2024 (a season interrupted by a hamstring injury).

Though their tendencies as hitters are similar, Wilson separates himself from the spectre of Madrigal’s lack of impact with much better defense and better long-term physical projection. Wilson has unspectacular range and struggles with hot shots, but his actions are often acrobatic and fun once the ball is in his hands. He is going to make a ton of SportsCenter Top 10s making jump throws to first and crazy feeds to second.

Since turning pro, Wilson’s frame has filled out, especially in his shoulders. He’s strong enough to make doubles-oriented contact now, flattening his path to impact pitches at the top of the zone and dipping to scoop low ones, which he often drives the other way. Wilson’s inside-out style has him spraying fastballs to right field and pulling mistake breaking balls. He’s incredibly aggresive and chase-prone, but his bat control helps him get away with it. Low walk rates are common among players who make high-end rates of contact; guys like Luis Arraez, Madrigal, David Fletcher, Martín Prado, and countless others have had varying degrees of big league success despite not walking very much. What separates Wilson from many players of this ilk is that he’s a quality shortstop defender, and he has better long-term athletic projection than many of them because of his lanky build. Erick Aybar and Andrelton Simmons are fair performance comps for what readers should expect from Wilson’s arc as a hitter. He should be the Athletics’ everyday shortstop from Opening Day 2025 and onward, and while his ceiling is capped by a lack of power and what are likely to be low OBPs, his elite feel for contact should allow him to produce in the 2-3 WAR range.

The A’s frequently have late-market bonus pool space left to target Asian and Cuban players in the international amateur space, and that enabled them to sign Morales, who they inked for a whopping $3 million. Morales began his A’s career in the DSL, but he was so dominant that he was sent to Arizona after just four outings and ended the 2023 season at High-A Lansing having pitched across four different levels. Morales began 2024 in extended spring training with a shoulder impingement before he was sent out at the very end of April. He ended up working 81 innings across 22 starts at High-A Lansing and posted a 4.22 ERA, 24.9% strikeout rate, and 10.7% walk rate. Morales continues to look like an absolutely electric athlete with all-world arm speed, but he’s still more a thrower than pitcher.

The raw material Morales brings to the table is exceptional. He has an ideal pitcher’s frame: a broad-shouldered 6-foot-3, tapered at the waist, with oodles of physical projection, like a young Zack Wheeler. His arm speed looks like it should break the sound barrier and produces easy, upper-90s cheese. Morales also has a hellacious two-plane curveball in the 81-84 mph range, and you can go wild projecting on his changeup because of his athleticism and arm speed.

But Morales’ pitchability and on-mound poise need to improve. He works at a breakneck pace that often feels counter productive. He gets the sign from his catcher and lets it rip; he doesn’t seem to be executing any kind of plan or competent sequencing, and his command is pretty scattered. Morales and the A’s have plenty of time to develop his feel for these things, as his 40-man timeline doesn’t start until after the 2026 season.

Morales has this grade and a reservation on the Top 100 ranking because of his upside, which is considerable. He looks and moves like a top-of-the-rotation starter, and his stuff gives him a late-inning relief floor if he only barely develops as a strike-thrower. Were he a college prospect, Morales would be a top five pick (give or take) in most drafts because of his raw ability. Oakland’s track record of optimizing pitchers isn’t the best, but scouting and predicting aren’t the same thing. Morales isn’t racing to the big leagues and is definitely more of a Las Vegas A’s prospect than a Sacramento A’s prospect, one who will probably spend most of the next couple of years trying to grow and improve as a craftsman. He has a shot to become an All-Star starter down the road.

Clarke, whose mother was a Canadian Olympian, was perhaps the first athlete to ever blow up at the MLB Draft Combine, as he wowed during BP and the athletic testing at the inaugural event in 2021. A small school college prospect, Clarke is your quintessential athletic developmental project, even now at age 24. He has an XL NFL wide receiver’s frame at a cut 6-foot-4, 220 pounds; it takes him just a handful of strides to glide from base to base, and he has plus raw power.

Where Clarke has developed most as a pro is in center field. He is arguably a plus center field defender right now. His feel for running to spots has improved, he has elite top-end speed, he takes bold risks with dives, and he did some absolutely ridiculous stuff around the outfield wall during his stint in the Arizona Fall League. With his size, athleticism and bold creativity, Clarke is going to have a very long big league career as a premium center field defender.

His feel for hitting hasn’t really progressed, with many of his swings still looking poorly timed and mechanically awkward. Clarke’s levers and swing are very long, and he basically can’t pull fastballs. His splits against above-average velocity are really bad and there’s a good chance Clarke will have big league heaters chucked past him with regularity. Clarke has been able to get to power in games despite striking out roughly 30% of the time for his entire career. He crushes mistake breaking balls and creates extra-base hits with his legs. There’s a chance that Clarke will have a relevant offensive peak deep into his 20s where he has so much power that he’s productive despite near bottom-of-the-scale contact. In the meantime, Clarke’s glove will play. He’s going to be a meaningfully good part-time outfielder and pinch-runner, and he might already be better suited for that role than Esteury Ruiz.

Ginn, who has had a litany of arm issues throughout his career, looked healthy for the first time in a while during the 2024 season, when he exceeded 100 innings for the first time in his career and reached the big leagues. Ginn had Tommy John surgery just before the shutdown in 2020, though that didn’t deter the Mets from selecting him in the second round of that year’s draft. He was traded to Oakland for Chris Bassitt before the 2022 season. Forearm soreness cost him a chunk of that season, and he showed reduced velocity and poor command upon his return, only to be shut down two more times in quick succession with forearm soreness last year. Early on in 2024, Ginn was more often in the 92-95 mph range and his command rebounded.

Ginn has a drop-and-drive delivery and a vertical arm slot, but he tends to work with sink and not ride, atypical of a delivery like his. The sink on Ginn’s fastball is really nasty, so even though it has below-average velocity, it’s at least an average pich. The balance and consistency of his delivery allow him to fill the zone, and his sinker pairs nicely with his slider, which generated a 17% swinging strike rate during his eight-game big league run in 2024. Ginn’s changeup feel should improve as he continues to pitch, and the same could be true of the mid-90s velocity we saw glimpses of early in 2024. This is a stable no. 4/5 sinker/slider starter.

Barnett moved into Auburn’s rotation in the middle of his junior season and his stuff peaked late in the year as the draft approached. The violence and inconsistency of his delivery caused him to project as a reliever on our draft rankings, but he’s been developed as a starter so far and has outperformed that pre-draft expectation through Double-A, where he pitched 133 combined innings between the Royals and Athletics orgs in 2024 (he was part of the Lucas Erceg trade). Barnett struck out 28.5% of the Texas League hitters he faced while walking them at just a 8.7% clip.

The barrel chested right-hander has a fastball that sits in the mid-90s with uphill angle through the zone, as well as a 84-87 mph slider that routinely flashes plus with its two-plane action. Barnett also has a curveball in his mix that has significant depth and is vertical in nature, but it rarely shows the explosiveness in its break that his slider does; it’s more often a pitch he wants to land in the zone for strikes. He maintains his arm speed and delivery enough to help his changeup play despite its lack of movement, and because of that, it’s an offering that will likely develop into at least an average pitch for him even if it doesn’t generate big swing-and-miss numbers. Barnett continues to perform well as a starter and his strong build looks fit for a back-of-the-rotation role as a good team’s no. 4/5 starter.

This lanky righty from Jersey had a velo spike during his senior spring, and after sitting 90-93 mph during his pre-draft summer, he was touching 95-96 en route to state Player of the Year as a senior. Even though aspects of his fastball plane and shape were clearly suboptimal, Echavarria’s breaking ball quality made him one of the more exciting high school pitchers in the 2023 draft, and he signed for $3 million rather than go to Florida. He pitched during 2023 instructs (that’s where the linked video is from) and in 2024 extended spring training before making his affiliate debut at Stockton. Echavarria then tossed 57.2 frames as an 18-year-old in the Cal League, where he struck out 21% of batters he faced while also walking them at a 13% clip. His fastball was back in the 90-94 range but, because of his frame’s projectability, there’s very likely to be more velocity as he continues to add strength in the coming years.

Echavarria’s breaking ball is nasty. His arm slot makes it so that pitch is only ever descending; it doesn’t float up out of his hand in an identifiable way. Last year, it was a plus curveball in the upper-70s; in 2024, it had more of a slider look in the 84-86 mph range. He does a good job of maintaining his fastball arm speed when throwing his changeup, but Echavarria’s feel for locating it is a work in progress. His fastball strikes are also inconsistent, and sometimes he spins on the heel of his front foot as it catches his motion and loses his line to the plate. It’s pretty typical for pitchers with levers this long to scatter their fastballs at this age, and Echavarria’s control is fine enough and his delivery smooth enough to project him as a starter. Echavarria’s 2024 stat line doesn’t jump off the page, but his ability to hold his own at that level as an 18-year-old while flashing the caliber of stuff he did definitely constitutes a productive first season in his professional development process. We’d like to see him maintain the mid-90s heat he has shown in short bursts across a whole season. He’s still quite a long way from having proven he can do that, but there’s a mid-rotation future here if he can.

Muncy was limited to 233 plate appearances in 2024 due to a back injury, and he finished with a 24.6% strikeout rate at Triple-A Las Vegas while posting a .866 OPS. Below-average rates of contact will probably always be part of his game, and ultimately will be what funnels Muncy into a utility infield role. Breaking ball chase is the main culprit here, though importantly, Muncy has enough power to keep his overall offense afloat. An important 2024 development: Muncy finally got experience at the second base. He appears more comfortable and well-suited for the keystone than third base. He turns the double play well on both ends, and projects to be an average defender at shortstop and an above-average defender at second base. Muncy’s ability to be a sound defender up-the-middle is the carrying trait of his profile. His isn’t devoid of offensive ability, but it will be important for him to learn to control the zone better over time. Muncy has a good chance to debut toward the end of 2025.

A barrel-chested college baseball cult hero with plus bat speed, White was among the highest-profile transfers of the last few years, heading from NC State to LSU after an incredible freshman season. He slashed .355/.419/.704 throughout his college career with 75 homers in three seasons, and signed for $3 million as the A’s second rounder in 2024, getting 25 professional games under his belt after the draft.

White’s calling card is his power. His operation in the batter’s box is very rhythmic and uses a hand hitch trigger and toe tap timing mechanism. His hands aren’t exceptionally quick on their own, but White’s ability to rotate explosively through his hips, combined with the loft in his bat path, produces above-average power. Chase issues make his overall profile risky. White got better in this regard as a junior (38% chase in 2023, 32% in 2024), but then backpedaled after the draft in a 119-PA pro sample (39%). White’s pitch selection ultimately limits his hit tool’s ceiling; he’s going to be a low-OBP player, and he’ll need to get to his raw power during game action to cover up for this shortcoming. Jake Burger and Maikel Franco are similar players, though White plays better defense than either of those guys.

A surprisingly mobile, low-to-the-ground defender for his size, White’s ability to control his body well on the run puts him in a good fielding position, which allows him to cover up for below-average hands. White will have to stay as lithe and quick as possible, which can be challenging for athletes built like he is, but he has a better shot to stay at the hot corner than you’d guess when he gets off the bus. The warts on White’s offensive profile are real, but he’ll bring enough value to the table with his power and ability to stay at third that he likely ends up as a regular on a lesser club, or more of a 1B/3B part-timer for a championship-caliber team.

Morris posted a 5.42 ERA in his draft year but was still a shrewd pickup by the Mets because of his relative youth and projectability for a college prospect, as well as his repertoire depth. In 2024, he reached High-A and then was acquired by the A’s in the deadline deal that sent Paul Blackburn to New York. Morris’ walk rates to this point feel a bit faulty. He lacks a consistent release point and was walk-prone at Triple-A toward the very end of the season, and this (plus Morris’ skinny build) is driving his long relief projection here. But we think Morris will be a premium version of this archetype. He utilizes both a four-seamer and a sinker (his groundball rate spiked after the A’s acquired him), with a tendency to throw the four-seamer from a noticeably higher slot than his sinker. Morris’ sinker will show above-average movement, his four-seamer has uphill angle that will allow to it play as a finisher if he improves his command of it to the proper location, and his velo was surging at the very end of the year, when he was sitting 94-95 at Las Vegas. His slider is a two-plane breaker, while the curveball is often 20 mph slower than his fastballs and will flash deep 11-to-5 action. He also brings a changeup to the table that sits in 85-88 mph velo range and features both fade and sinking action; it plays especially well off of his sinker. This is a good pitching prospect even if we’re not totally convinced Morris is a starter. He’s tracking to debut at some point in mid-to-late 2025.

A two-way player as an underclassman at Cal, Holman transitioned to pitching (as a starter) full-time during his junior year. He enjoyed a velo spike as he was moved to the bullpen in pro ball. Holman is a three-pitch reliever. In 2024, he accumulated 15.2 innings of work at the big league level, where he struck out 16 and walked nine largely working in bursts of one inning or less. He sits 93-95 and hurls his gigantic frame directly at the plate, enabling him to bully the zone with average velocity but plus extension. Both of his secondary pitches are capable of missing bats, and at times, his slider has very impressive two-plane movement for a pitch that bends in around 87 mph. Still, Holman’s changeup is his most consistent and dangerous offering, and he racked up a 39.6% swing-and-miss rate on the nearly 100 of them he threw to major league hitters last season. The pitch has bat-missing sink, and Holman tends to command it to enticing locations. His ability to attack hitters of either handedness separates Holman from the generic middle relief group in the 40 FV tier. He has a shot to be a more important bullpen cog behind Mason Miller, perhaps even the Athletics’ setup man.

Kuroda-Grauer was a great contact hitter at Rutgers, where he had a career .343/.419/.501 line with more walks than strikeouts as both a sophomore and junior. He signed for a little over $1 million as a 2024 third rounder and got a shot of espresso at Triple-A late in the summer after only 113 plate appearances between Low- and High-A. Kuroda-Grauer’s offensive profile is built around his advanced bat-to-ball chops, which were evident in his 126 plate-appearance pro debut, as he again walked more times (12) than he struck out (nine). Kuroda-Grauer is short to the ball with average bat speed. He has feel for manipulating the bat in the zone and tends to work toward the opposite field.

On the defensive side, JKG does a lot of things commensurate with playing pro shortstop, save for his max-effort arm strength and accuracy. Kuroda-Grauer has a tendency to airmail throws when he either needs to hurry or really wing it over there. Conversely, his routine throws when he has time to get set are remarkably crisp and accurate. He controls his body well when ranging for balls, and has effortless and consistent actions around the bag. He’s not someone you want to play 100-plus games at shortstop, but he’d be fine there in case of an emergency, and we think Kuroda-Grauer will be a plus defender at second base. He’ll need to develop either more power than we expect or special defensive versatility to outpace the infield utility grade we have here.

International scouts generally saw Montero, who signed for $1.2 million in January of 2024 and looks like is no longer switch-hitting, as having a pretty stable hit/power combination, though they also thought that once his lanky, 6-foot-2 frame filled out, he’d be a better fit at either second or third base than shortstop. He posted a fine .239/.398/.375 line in his DSL debut, managing average contact rates and plus plate discipline. Perhaps most importantly, he looked like a more skillful and rangy shortstop defender than his pre-signing reports. Montero was also one of the more physically projectable DSL Athletics. He continues to have a good foundation of tools, skills, and the potential for growth as his body matures.

Two of the first three full seasons of Basso’s pro career were totally wiped out by the pandemic and a 2021 Tommy John. He had a 2023 breakout at High-A Lansing, ended the season with a cup of coffee at Double-A, was added to the 40-man roster in the offseason, then made his big league debut in 2024. He threw 93 innings between Double- and Triple-A, struck out 27.5% of batters, walked 6.3%, and made his first four big league starts at the end of the year.

Basso continues to work with a below-average fastball, but his feel for staying out of the heart of the plate is pretty good. He sits about 92 mph with downhill plane, and mixes in a cutter and curveball, with the latter being his best bat-misser. The sharpness of its break and vertical action generated a 38.5% swing-and-miss rate during his major league innings. The depth on Basso’s cutter tends to vary. Most feature short, quick action, but he’ll occasionally flash slider-like depth on the offering, which consistently shows average teeth. Last year, Eric noted that Basso would really benefit from adding a changeup, and that’s exactly what he did in 2024. At present, the pitch usually lacks notable movement, but his ability to maintain his fastball arm speed makes it a usable show-me type offering. While Basso doesn’t have an incredibly high ceiling, he looks capable of holding down a back-of-the-rotation, innings-eater type role.

Johnston moved from Texas A&M’s bullpen into their rotation in the middle of his draft year and the A’s have continued to stretch him out in pro ball. So far, it’s working. Johnston pitched at three levels in 2024, covering 99.2 innings and striking out 33% of the batters he faced. Johnston also kept his walk rate just under 10% on the year, which is an encouraging sign after he posted some lofty free pass totals during his amateur career. Johnston hides the ball forever and has a due north arm slot that imparts ride on his fastball. He has a pretty generic vertical breaking ball that plays off of that; it has good finish and depth when it’s buried, but not enough bite to miss bats in the zone. The quality of Johnston’s splitter can still really vary; his best ones show tumbling action with late depth, while others are still prone to floating on him and have little movement at all. If the split can progress to being a consistently average offering, Johnston has a back-of-the-rotation future ahead of him. If not, he has a favorable multi-inning relief profile.

Miller signed an over-slot $1 million deal as the A’s 2023 fourth rounder rather than go to UCLA. He blew out and had Tommy John sometime during 2024 spring training. He’s a projectable 6-foot-6 righty who flashed three viable pitches as a healthy high schooler. Mostly 90-93 mph without a ton of movement, Miller’s size and ease of delivery portend more velocity, but his fastball might always play down a little. He shows inconsistent slider finish, but his best ones are 55s in the 82-84 mph range with traditional slider shape. His changeup has better long-term projection even though it’s not used as often right now. Miller really sells the changeup with his arm speed, and creates tumble and tail on the pitch. It’s also inconsistent due to a lack of use, but it has big ceiling down the road as Miller’s touch and feel develops. This is a rock-solid starting pitching prospect, probably one with more of a medium ceiling due to his fastball’s traits.

Lasko is a physical, plus-running outfielder from Rutgers who hit .330/.428/.582 with more walks than strikeouts as a junior. His combination of power, speed, and defense made him the second pick in the 2023. The leap from the Big Ten to pro pitching has so far been too much for Lasko, who is having a very difficult time making contact in pro ball. We still see above-average bat speed and power in the way Lasko swings, but he only hit six home runs in 569 plate appearances between Stockton and Lansing in 2024, while slashing .232/.353/.328 on the season. His bat path is conducive to handling pitches down in the zone but is vulnerable in other areas, and he posted a 67% contact rate in 2024.

Lasko’s defensive chops in center field establish a higher floor for him than for most players who produce as little offense as he has. He goes after balls with controlled aggression, his plus foot speed allows him to cover up occasionally inefficient routes, and he’s confident and athletic at the catch point, including around the wall. Lasko’s offensive profile doesn’t provide much reason for optimism, but his defensive ability could give him solid value as a defense-first bench type.

The standout of the A’s 2024 extended spring training and complex group was Pacheco, who had two relatively pedestrian seasons of DSL statistical performance coming into 2024. He’s a compact speedster with a big time motor and super athletic swing. The springy, tightly wound Pacheco uses the ground well in the box. He’s on the smaller side, and there are a lot of young Randy Arozarena similarities to his build and style of play. He is going to wreak havoc on the lower minors with spray, speed, and the way he presses the action on the bases. His speed gives him a shot to develop in center field, and Pacheco probably has a better shot to stay there than he does of adding big power, but that was once also true of Arozarena. Pacheco struck out a little too much for comfort during the 2024 ACL season at 24.5%. He’s done that for a couple years in a row, and it’s a bit of a red flag K rate for that level. He is otherwise a well-rounded prospect with catalytic qualities, a toolsy dev project whose hit tool needs to improve.

Klein came to the A’s in the Lucas Erceg deal at the 2024 trade deadline. His profile revolves around his 95-98 mph fastball, which touches triple digits and features plus riding life through the zone. Klein’s ability to harness his heater in the zone remains spotty. In his 50.1 frames between Triple-A and the big leagues, he walked 16.5% of opposing batters while also striking them out at a 21.7% clip, lower than you’d hope given his stuff. Klein’s curveball is a short, vertical breaker between 85-87 mph that will show solid bite but ultimately is hindered by his inability to land it with consistency. He’ll also mix in a shorter breaker in the upper-80s that has a hint of horizontal tilt to it; it’s on the slider/cutter line. The caliber of Klein’s pure stuff is in line with many high-leverage relief types, but the volatility in his strike-throwing ability makes him better suited for a bridge relief role.

Perkins has pitched through Double-A (and had bat-missing success) as a starter, but his inability to stay healthy or throw strikes has him funneled toward the bullpen in this projection. Perkins sits 93-95 as a starter and his fastball has bat-missing ride. If he has a velo spike in relief, it will be a comfortably plus pitch. Perkins’ slider already is, though his release variability impacts the pitch’s consistency and quality. Perkins also has a cutter, a curveball, and a changeup, with each representing a smaller portion of his repertoire than the fastball and slider by quite a bit. He may pare that down if indeed he moves to the bullpen, a change that’s in play in 2025 and 2026, as Perkins is likely to ascend to the 40-man roster.

A very successful three-year starter at Bethune-Cookman, Maldonado’s pro career began on a bit of a delay because of the pandemic and an injury that cost him a large chunk of 2021. Despite that, he reached the upper levels of the minors in a relief role very quickly, and he’s been dominant from a bat-missing and strike-throwing standpoint for the last couple of years before finally debuting in the majors in 2024 with Miami. He was claimed off waivers after the season. Maldonado hangs his hat on a mid-80s slider that has powerful vertical finish. He throws this pitch more than half the time and supplements it with a low-90s sinker that stays out of trouble because of Maldonado’s control. He’s begun to incorporate a cutter in order to keep hitters off his fastball, mostly against lefties. Consistent slider command is his ticket to a steady low-leverage relief role.

Susac spent all of 2024 in Midland, where he posted a respectable .257/.300/.434 line despite chasing over 40% of the time. His inability to parse balls and strikes is extreme. Susac had 370 trips to the plate last season and only walked 16 times (4.3%), and though he has pretty good plate coverage, he still struck out at a 25.9% clip because of all the chase. Susac’s power is still pretty good for a catcher and he tallied 34 extra-base hits on the year, but it’s tough to expect him to get to his power in games when he’s expanding the zone this much. Behind the dish, Susac moves around well and is a relatively quiet pitch receiver. His ball-blocking still needs a lot of work and his exit from his crouch is inconsistent and impacts his pop times, which are fine when he has a clean exchange. He’s a flawed third catcher at this point.

Acquired in exchange for Nick Allen, Johnson is a very physical, high-effort relief prospect who utilizes a slider-heavy approach to pitching. Johnson’s slider will bend in as hard as 94 mph. He hides the ball well and throws with such violence that it often takes hitters a second to adjust to his delivery. His fastball will touch 99, but Johnson’s very high release point creates a downhill angle that hurts the pitch’s ability to miss bats. Johnson’s stuff is pretty nasty, and while his bull-in-a-china-shop control will probably limit him to up/down duty when he debuts, he could pitch his way into a more regular middle relief role if he gains better control of his body in his mid-20s.

Hoglund threw 130.2 frames between Double- and Triple-A in 2024, posting a 3.58 ERA on the season while striking out 23% of batters and walking just 7%. A former first round draft pick, Hoglund came to Oakland as part of the Matt Chapman trade. He was an east/west fastball/slider guy at Ole Miss, but he’s adopted more of a vertical attack since returning from Tommy John. In general, Hoglund has to pitch around his fastball due to its below-average velocity and movement, and he tries to land his slider at the top of the zone for strikes. He has above-average command (not plus — his above-the-zone operation with his fastball makes it tough for Hoglund to work very efficiently), and he does a good job of staying out of the heart of the plate with his heater. The slider remains the headliner of his arsenal, and it has solid spin and two-plane shape, which is especially effective against right-handed hitters. His changeup will also flash average with plenty of depth. Hoglund looks like a strike-throwing depth starter and/or bulk reliever.

Thomas is a physical little outfielder who takes bloodthirsty, max-effort, pull-side hacks that come at the expense of his ability to make contact. He had a huge 2024 first half at Double-A and only K’d at an 18% clip, but after his promotion to Las Vegas, Thomas’ strikeouts jumped back up to his career-usual rate around 30%. He still managed to hit 31 homers across the entire season. His corner outfield-only defensive profile continues to hinder the likelihood he’ll ever be a mainstay on a 26-man roster, but his power-oriented offensive profile looks like it will have up/down value.

Simpson spent the majority of 2024 at High-A Lansing but reached Double-A Midland by the end of the year. He’s a power-hitting corner infield prospect with strikeout issues due to a grooved swing. Plus bat speed and strength make Simpson a threat from foul pole to foul pole, and he posted an .860 OPS in 2024, but he also struck out in just under 25% of his trips to the plate. Simpson’s bat path has loft to it, while staying in the hitting zone for an extended period of time, but he’s prone to expanding out of the zone (29% chase in 2024) and he doesn’t move the barrel around especially well, which makes it difficult to see a viable path to an average hit tool. Simpson does a good job of producing contact in the air and his ability to carry his above-average raw power over to game action will be vital due to his first base defensive profile.

Simpson played a dozen games at third base in Lansing but didn’t see any time at the hot corner in college or following his promotion to Midland. It will be interesting to see whether he gets more time at third, because his average arm strength and hands are capable of making routine plays there, and he would really benefit from being a viable defender at another position besides first. Simpson could be a Patrick Wisdom type player.

Bolte is a super toolsy prospect with very intense, profile-altering strikeout issues. He’s struck out at least a third of the time at each minor league stop (usually more), but at some of them has still found a way to hit for big power. Bolte is a flat out 80-grade runner with plus raw power and room for more strength on his frame. His swing isn’t especially functional and often leaves him inside-outing the baseball the other way. He is likely to strike out at a roughly 40% clip against big league pitching as his swing is currently constituted.

But Bolte’s physical prowess is so impressive that when he reaches his physical prime in five years or so, he might be toolsy enough to have a window of meaningful big league impact despite his flaws. He’s someone to watch over a very long period of time, a player who isn’t likely to break out until he’s on his second org via six year minor league free agency. It will be important for his feel for outfield defense to improve during that time as, despite Bolte’s speed, his feel and instincts out there aren’t great.

Stuhr is a fantastic small school developmental pitching prospect out of Portland, Oregon. He spent a year at a Washington JUCO and another at Oregon State (where he didn’t pitch at all) before settling in for 80 innings at the Portland in his draft year. Stuhr has a prototypical pitcher’s build at a long-levered 6-foot-2 or so, and he’s a loose, athletic mover. He held mid-90s velocity all year and his two breaking balls generated plus rates of miss against small school competition. But Stuhr’s feel for location is not good right now. He walked 45 batters in his 80 innings as a junior and is pretty loose in the strike zone with all of his pitches. He’s behind most 22-year-olds in terms of pitchability and craftsmanship, but he pitched in fewer than 10 total college games until his draft year, so that isn’t surprising. Stuhr is a deep projection sleeper.

Cusick, who was part of the Matt Olson trade, has rebounded a bit after two years of declining velocity. He was sitting 95-96 as a starter in early 2024, then missed time with a core muscle strain. A few weeks after he returned, Cusick was moved to the bullpen and he was pretty dominant down the stretch, allowing a .191 opponents batting average after the switch to relief. Cusick had added a cutter to his mix early in the year, but it was less a part of his repertoire after the move to the ‘pen. His ability to locate his slider is better than that of his fastball. His ceiling in relief is limited by his lack of command, but he has an above-average slider and an average cutter to back up his heater. Cusick is tracking like an up/down relief type who could slide into a lower-leverage on-roster role if his command exceeds its projection.

Signed as an undrafted free agent by Miami after the 2020 draft and later traded for David Hess, Sterner was claimed off waivers from the Rays during the 2024-25 offseason. He has a plus slider and an upshot fastball that lives entirely off its angle and deception. Sterner might have the shortest arm circle in baseball; it looks more like a shot putter’s motion and it definitely adds an element of deception to his delivery. His four-seamer sits between 92-94 mph and the aforementioned arm action allows it to sneak up on hitters up in the zone. Sterner is throwing both a slider and cutter, the former a 79-82 mph two-plane bender, while the latter is a short, upper-80s offering with quick, subtle action. Sterner will likely fill an up/down reliever role in the coming years.

Emanuels experienced a three-tick velo bump in 2023 and carried his 94-96 mph fastball into the 2024 season. He also incorporated a cutter into his repertoire, which now gives him three different breaking ball shapes to show hitters. He deploys cutters, sliders, and curveballs across a 77-90 mph range, so even though hitters can reliably look for movement to one half of the plate, they can’t anticipate speed and shape. Emanuels’ cutter remains his best secondary weapon, with late, quick action that allows it to stay off barrels. Both his curveball and slider tend to lack sharp break and are more complementary pieces to his fastball and cutter. Emanuels was limited to just 18 innings of work between Double- and Triple-A in 2024 after a shoulder strain resulted in a 60-day IL stint. Depending on his long-term injury prognosis, Emanuels looks bound for an up/down relief role.

Another in a growing line of high-profile LSU transfers, Jump (who had TJ during his freshman season) has big fastball carry, which he’s had since high school. He sits 93 and tops out at 97, and if he can regularly locate it to the top of the zone, it’s going to be a plus pitch. But command has never been Jump’s strong suit, which is a big part of why teams were hesitant to go all-in and sign him out of high school. He has a thick, mature build, a violent delivery, and very little feel for location. His slider and curveball effectiveness are each below average due to Jump’s lack of command. There are scouts who really like him, but here Jump is evaluated as a one-pitch relief prospect with spotty control.

Bowman posted a .844 OPS over 80 games at Double-A Midland in 2024 before playing his final 38 games at Triple-A, where he didn’t find the same success, as evidenced by his .592 OPS and 12-to-37 BB-to-K ratio. He can manipulate the barrel in the zone, but he struggles to produce consistently authoritative contact. Bowman plays solid defense at both second base and in center field, which gives him valuable versatility, and he’s a good baserunner, swiping bags 43 in 49 attempts last season. Add it all together, and it’s enough to make him a up/down type with versatility on the tough end of the defensive spectrum.

The Athletics claimed Alexander off waivers in September after the Royals released him following a four-game cameo for their big league club. Alexander posted a .302/.361/.559 slash line along with 52 extra base hits in 411 trips to the plate against Triple-A pitching in 2024. His approach, which is heavy on chase (34% in 2024) and light on walks (8% career walk rate), limits how much his hit tool will play at the major league level, but his ability to tap into his juice in games and to handle multiple corner defensive positions is enough to provide up/down utility.

Naylor had a lackluster offensive season in 2024, posting an OPS of just .643 while punching out at a 35% rate. Even more of a red flag, Naylor also carried a 35% in-zone swing-and-miss rate on the year, which speaks to his inability to manipulate the barrel to cover multiple quadrants. Naylor’s bat speed still warrants above-average marks, but a stiff lower half hinders his ability to rotate explosively and forces him to use only his hands to move the barrel around. On the defensive side, Naylor has been playing shortstop. His hands are soft, but again, stiffness in Naylor’s lower body hinders his mobility and range; ideally, he’ll improve in this area while he’s still feasibly young enough to do so.

Tur, 25, is a Cuban righty with a riding mid-90s fastball. He got his walks down to a workable level in 2024 while throwing a career high 90.1 frames, albeit as a very old Low-A pitcher. Tur controls his 6-foot-6 frame well and his mid-90s fastball can bully hitters up in the zone. His upper-80s splitter will flash plus, while his breaking ball is still very inconsistent and easy to identify out of his hand. There’s a chance something clicked for Tur in 2024, and he’s someone to keep a close eye on in 2025.

Nankil was the A’s seventh round selection out of Cal State Fullerton in 2023. His frame is lean, with room for additional strength in the coming years. He split the season between both A-ball affiliates, posting an .862 OPS with 11 homers and 39 extra-base hits. Nankil’s bat path has loft to it without sacrificing how long his bat stays in the hitting zone, but he has average bat speed. He’s limited to the corner outfield positions, where he projects to be an average defender. Because he lacks a true outlier offensive tool, he projects as an up/down role player in the future.

Fernandez’s fastball was in the 95-97 mph range last spring after sitting 92-95 in 2023, but he tore his labrum toward the end of extended spring training, and he didn’t pitch at an affiliate all season. In addition to the fastball, he also has a 2,800 rpm slurve in the 84-86 mph range and a changeup that has shown plus action. This is purely a wait-and-see inclusion for Fernandez, who looked like he might have been breaking out just before he got hurt.