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Oakland Athletics Top 20 Prospects in Review

This list was originally published January 2nd, 2008. THIS IS NOT A NEW LIST. THIS IS AN OLD LIST!!!!!!!

1) Carlos Gonzalez, OF, Grade B+
    .293/.351/.439 for Triple-A Sacramento, .265/.302/.407 for Oakland. He should improve.
2) Daric Barton, 1B, Grade B+
     ,218/.319/.311 for Oakland. Proof that plate discipline isn't everything. He needs to watch out because there are other 1B prospects on his heels.
3) Brett Anderson, LHP, Grade B+
     1.80 ERA with 29/8 K/BB in 25 innings since being promoted to Double-A Midland. On a roll right now.
4) Chris Carter, 1B, Grade B+
     .262/.361/.561 with 29 homers for Class A Stockton. Very high strikeout rate, but draws walks and has tons of power.
5) James Simmons, RHP, Grade B
     3.54 ERA with 94/22 K/BB in 107 innings, 112 hits allowed for Double-A Midland. Strong command, doing well in Double-A, like the K/BB.
6) Henry Alberto Rodriguez, RHP, Grade B 
     Was hammered due to control problems in Double-A trial, but 4.16 with 92/38 K/BB in 67 innings in the Cal League. Excellent stuff, but obviously command is an issue.
7) Trevor Cahill, RHP, Grade B-
      2.78 ERA, 103/31 K/BB in 87 innings for Stockton, 2.19 ERA with 33/19 K/BB in 37 innings for Midland. Ratios have slipped a bit in Double-A but are still impressive overall.
8) Aaron Cunningham, OF, Grade B-
     .320/.388/.510 with 12 steals for Midland. Not great plate discipline, but does a lot of other things well.
9) Corey Brown, OF, Grade B-
      .270/.358/.483 with 12 steals and 14 homers in 84 games for Kane County in the Midwest League. But .213/.278/.483 mark at Stockton, with 43 strikeouts in 21 games, shows the need for much more polish.
10) Andrew Bailey, RHP, Grade B-
       5.14 ERA with 87/51 K/BB in 89 innings for Midland, 81 hits allowed. Strong K/IP and H/IP, but command has slipped this year.
11) Sean Doolittle, 1B, Grade B-
       .305/.385/.560 mark at Stockton was strong, but .245/.294/.422 mark at Midland shows the difference in competition. Strike zone judgment has gotten much worse in Double-A.
12) Javier Herrera, OF, Grade C+
       .281/.352/.397 for Midland. Not sure what to make of him any more, other than he looks pretty mediocre. High strikeout rate.
13) Dan Meyer, LHP, Grade C+
        4.48 ERA with 109/52 K/BB in 123 innings for Sacramento, 113 hits allowed. Not bad for the PCL, but getting old.
14) Greg Smith, LHP, Grade C+
      4.04 ERA with 84/56 K/BB in 127 innings for Oakland, 108 hits allowed. Nice rookie season. Would like to see walk rate come down.
15) Sam Demel, RHP, Grade C+
      3.60 ERA with 16 saves, 75/29 K/BB in 55 innings for Stockton. Strong K/IP and a ground ball tendency are nice attributes.
16) Andrew Carignan, RHP, Grade C+   
      2.11 ERA with 18 saves, 46/32 K/BB in 38 innings for Midland. Good season, but the walk rate will have to come down at higher levels.
17) Grant Desme, OF, Grade C+
      On injury rehab in the AZL Rookie League.
18) Travis Banwart, RHP, Grade C+
        Was dominating at Kane County. Promoted to Stockton, 4.26 ERA with 32/24 K/BB in 38 innings, 39 hits allowed. Ratios are much weaker in the Cal League.
19) Josh Horton, SS, Grade C+
      .285/.361/.335 for Stockton. Not much power.
20) Jermaine Mitchell, OF, Grade C 
      .242/.343/.360 with 20 steals for Stockton. Draws some walks, but power hasn't blossomed as hoped.

This is a pretty good group. Add in guys like Craig Italiano and Vince Mazzaro who took big steps forward, plus all the prospects acquired in trades recently, plus returns from the 2008 draft, and you have a system that is suddenly flush with prospects again. The turnaround from a couple of years ago has been remarkable.

 

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Iona

by jsmall404 on Aug 4, 2025 12:51 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Iona is a college, Inoa is a prospect who has yet to appear

in a game for the A’s system.

Charlie Brown GO A'S WIN

by Charlie Brown on Aug 5, 2025 10:28 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

additional info

desme out for season-injured again

bailey-has switched over the last month to bp, dominant, thats probably his role long term

hrod’s last couple outings have been as a reliever, the conversion process has begun

biggest disappointment- mitchell, tools, speed, defense, etc. but the hitting subpar. turns 24 after season. looks alot like robnett/hererra career path

by Asfan4ever723 on Aug 4, 2025 12:53 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Bailey

At first I thought you meant bp as batting practice. Well, that scared me a little. But yeah, he could be a decent reliever.

Procrastinators unite....tomorrow

by muffinpryde on Aug 4, 2025 6:20 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Hm, good point.

But it shouldn’t be too hard on the current Oakland squad.

Procrastinators unite....tomorrow

by muffinpryde on Aug 4, 2025 10:34 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Response

Yeah, they’ve done a good job of stocking the system with prospects . . .but at the same time, they traded almost every useful major league asset in the process of doing it, too. I’ll give credit to Billy Beane for doing a quality job of identifying good young talent that can be had in trades, but this system is like a case study in why the “players under age 25” evaluation method is superior to examining just the guys on the farm at present.

Best prospect in the system at this point? I think I’m leaning towards Anderson, but I imagine that Cahill and Inoa would get a lot of votes too.

Finally, Corey Brown . . .good grief, 43 Ks in 21 games? That’s just amazing.

by mrkupe on Aug 4, 2025 1:14 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Not sure how that really applies here

Chad Gaudin was 25, I think… other than that the A’s didn’t trade anyone 25 or younger.

If you’re just saying that the A’s situation is not #2 in baseball (or whatever) going forward, yeah, that’s probably true.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Aug 4, 2025 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Response

I think my point was that while it’s a very nice crop of prospects, it’s easy to get overly excited about this group while forgetting that there’s still not much to speak of in talent that’s done anything at the MLB level at present.

by mrkupe on Aug 4, 2025 4:23 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

The new names on this list

These guys will probably on next year’s list and weren’t on this list:
Michel Inoa
Gio Gonzalez
Fautino De Los Santos (despite Tommy John still makes the list based on potential)
Craig Italiano
Vince Mazzaro
Adrian Cardenas
Jemile Weeks
Matt Sulentic
Arnold Leon
Josh Donaldson

Combine that with numbers 3-11 on this list and there’s 20 right there. Order them how you want. Pretty remarkable, considering they still could trade Duchscherer and Street.

"Loyal? I'm the most loyal player money can buy." - Don Sutton

by vignette17 on Aug 4, 2025 1:21 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Do you think

Could we also see people like Rashun Dixon or Nino Leyja make the list next year, or has the A’s system depth ruled raw prospects like them out?

Sometimes life will strike you out on a curve ball and the only choice you have is to flip off the umpire and walk to first base anyway.

by Threepwood XX on Aug 4, 2025 1:35 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Jose Garcia and Carlos Hernandez are also kinda interesting.

Josh Outman could figure in there somewhere. Matthew Spencer’s done surprisingly well at Stockton.

[Crosby] "Guy that has driven in some big runs for the A's over the years" - Vince Cotroneo

by WaddellCanseco on Aug 4, 2025 2:01 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I really like Garcia

Outman, I think will have a career in the majors, so that’s always valuable. Hernandez is intriguing as are Dixon and Leyja. Spencer, despite his blazing Stockton stats probably is not too good a prospect, but if he keeps it up could become one. The A’s 20-30 could be filled with interesting names but C+ type guys: Leyja, Outman, Dixon, Jesus Guzman, Garcia, Hernandez, Banwart, Herrera, Spencer, Jared Lansford, Robin Rosario, and guys like Carignan and Demel on the borderline.

"Loyal? I'm the most loyal player money can buy." - Don Sutton

by vignette17 on Aug 4, 2025 4:04 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

How is Demel a C+ guy?

He’s one of the best pure-relief prospects in the minors at this point. 75 Ks in 55 innings, and not in rookie ball either, is ridiculous. I think he’s a better prospect than Henry Rodriguez at this point.

Spencer always was seen as having a lot of talent, so if he’s finally decided to apply himself he could be a pretty good prospect. Or he could just be having a Herrera-esque brief run of luck.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Aug 4, 2025 4:30 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Demel

Demel has a 12.27K/9 at age 22 in Stockton. But he also walks about 4.75/9.

Connor Robertson at the same level in Stockton struck out 14 per 9 and walked 4.8 per 9 in 2005. He was 23. In 2006, he did not warrant a grade from Sickels, and therefore was a C at best. Is the one year better in ARL enough to warrant two grades better despite worse numbers all around? Do scouts love Demel and hate Robertson? I loved Robertson as a prospect but he never seemed to get an opportunity due to his command and/or stuff and was part of the Haren deal. He’s now in AAA and unlikely to ever stick in the bigs with only 8 IP total.

"Loyal? I'm the most loyal player money can buy." - Don Sutton

by vignette17 on Aug 4, 2025 7:03 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

No idea about Robertson

but since Demel got the C+ last year (when he was much worse than he’s been this year) I would find it hard to believe that he would not have moved up at least a grade.

Your 2008 Athletics: It's Nothing Personal.

by PaulThomas on Aug 4, 2025 10:25 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Don't underrate Spencer

Hes always had the talent to be a MLBer. He just rarely shows all of his tools and ability at once.

by nms on Aug 4, 2025 5:06 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

At the same time, this seems like a good reason not to overrate him

But I’m not a big fan of tools guys who don’t actually perform as they should. I’m just very skeptical of these types.

by thejd44 on Aug 5, 2025 5:22 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

?

does carter move up, down, or stay the same? he could post monster power numbers (40+ homers this year?) but his K’s are worrisome

by ScottAZ on Aug 4, 2025 2:14 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

Stays the Same B+

Carter maintains an above average BB% (13%), so he has decent pitch recognition skills. I would be more concerned about the K’s if he wasn’t walking as much.

He is striking out 1 in every 4 PAs over the course of the season which isn’t what you want to see, but it’s not the end of the world. It should be noted that over June and July it was about a K per each 5 ABs.

Guys with higher rates include Doolittle, Rowell, Place, Burgess, Stanton, Rosa, Cody Johnson - and those guys figure to be B’s and a few B+’s.

by gunkdog on Aug 5, 2025 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Brett Anderson

got my eye on him.

"Over the years, my favorite pastime outside baseball is driving through a pasture looking at cattle." - Nolan Ryan

by hurlerhurley on Aug 6, 2025 11:51 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

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