2010 Top 20 Oakland Athletics Pre-Season Prospects in Review

2010 Oakland Athletics

Here is a review of the 2010 Athletics prospect list, originally published December 28, 2009. THIS IS A REVIEW OF THE OLD LIST AND PRE-SEASON GRADES. THIS IS NOT A NEW LIST.  The 2011 list and new grades won't be ready until the season is over and I start writing the book.

1) Chris Carter, 1B-OF, Grade A-:  .261/.366/.526 with 28 homers, 69 walks, 130 strikeouts in 441 at-bats for Triple-A Sacramento, 0-for-19 with nine Ks in the majors so far. The power is obvious but the strikeouts are quite high. I still think that he has better pure hitting skills than the numbers indicate, but we'll see.

2) Michael Taylor, OF, Grade B+:   .262/.337/.380 for Sacramento. Power vanished; other components didn't change much. Not sure what the problem is.

3) Grant Green, SS, Grade B+:   .319/.363/.508, 15 homers for High-A Stockton, 34/107 BB/K in 480 at-bats. He's having a good year with the bat, although plate discipline isn't great. Glovework not good statistically, high error rate with mediocre range.

4) Grant Desme, OF, Grade B:  Quit baseball to join a Roman Catholic monastery.

5) Adrian Cardenas, 2B, Grade B-:   .345/.436/.469 in 51 games for Double-A Midland, then .247/.298/.307 in 41 games for Sacramento. Makes contact, not showing much pop this year.0

6) Jemile Weeks, 2B, Grade B-:    .293/.373/.423 with 14 steals in 62 games between Midland and rookie ball hip injury rehab. Good contact hitting with speed, lack of physical durability looks like a problem.

7) Tyson Ross, RHP, Grade B-:   5.49 ERA with 32/20 K/BB in 39 innings for Oakland, 39 hits. 3.55 ERA with 30/13 K/BB in 25 innings for Sacramento.  On the DL with elbow problems right now. Strong ground ball tendencies, but his command wasn't sharp in major league action.

8) Max Stassi, C, Grade B-:   .238/.314/.404 for Low-A Kane County, 13 homers, 37 walks, 126 strikeouts in 366 at-bats.  Has thrown out 33% of runners. Passed ball and error rates are high. Potential is here but needs refinement on both offense and defense.

9) Josh Donaldson, C, Grade B-:    .234/.331/.472 with 18 homers for Sacramento, 39% of runners caught, PB and Error rates are decent.   4-for-26 (.154) in the majors. He's shown good power and decent walk rate this year, so I still think he's interesting despite low batting average.

10) Sean Doolittle, OF-1B, Grade B-:  Out all year with knee injury.

11) Henry Rodriguez, RHP, Grade B-:   1.69 ERA with 31/9 K/BB in 21 innings for Sacramento, 3.52 ERA with 16/8 K/BB in 15 innings in the majors. Stuff is there, just needs to throw strikes and stay healthy.

12) Corey Brown, OF, Grade C+:    80 games, .337/.429/.537 with 10 homers, 17 steals for Midland, but .156/.207/.275 in 34 games for Sacramento. Triple-A pitching exposed his weaknesses of approach, but with his tools more chances will come.

13) Fautino De Los Santos, RHP, Grade C+:   2.30 ERA, 22/3 K/BB in 16 innings for Stockton, 5.68 ERA with 39/10 K/BB in 25 innings for Midland, 23 hits. Midland ERA is deceptive; he's looked very good more often than not in the Texas League. Relief option for next year.

14) Michael Ynoa, RHP, Grade C+:  Tommy John.

15) Arnold Leon, RHP, Grade C+:  Tommy John.

16) Pedro Figueroa, LHP, Grade C+:   5.30 ERA, 57/29 K/BB in 71 innings for Midland, 84 hits. Injured.

17) Ben Hornbeck, LHP, Grade C+:  awful at Midland, 5.87 ERA with 26/19 K/BB, 43 hits in 38 innings. Sent back to Stockton, 4.69 ERA with 108/38 K/BB in 88 innings, 109 hits. 1.78 GO/AO overall, with a 134/57 K/BB in 127 innings but 152 hits. Not sure what to make of him at this stage.

18) Sam Demel, RHP, Grade C+:   1.26 ERA with 28/9 K/BB in 27 innings for Sacramento.  4.61 ERA with 23/5 K/BB in 27 innings, 32 hits in the majors, traded to Arizona. Going to be a very nice bullpen arm.

19) Anthony Capra, LHP, Grade C+  4.31 ERA with 105/74 K/BB in 111 innings, 103 hits for Midland. Command problems the big issue here, walk rate is just too high.

20) Connor Hoehn, RHP, Grade C+:  3.19 ERA with 94/34 K/BB in 79 innings for Low-A Kane County, 58 hits. Love the K/IP and H/IP. Needs to sharpen  control for higher levels.

21) Justin Marks, LHP, Grade C+:   4.91 ERA with 129/48 K/BB in 125 innings between Kane County and Stockton, 124 hits. The ERA is deceptive; his K/BB  and K/IP marks are strong. Sleeper for next year.

22) Mickey Storey, RHP, Grade C+:  5.54 ERA with 14/5 K/BB in 13 innings for Sacramento, 3.32 ERA with 58/18 K/BB in 65 innings for Midland. Not a bad year.


Injuries and a spiritual commitment took a toll here, but some guys have just been disappointing and having hard transitions to higher levels. I still believe in Chris Carter, who has shown the ability to adapt and make changes before. Rodriguez, De Los Santos, and Storey could all provide some bullpen help next year, and Hoehn isn't far behind them.