Athletics Prospects: Luis Morales makes season debut

Morales and Steven Echavarria each appeared for the first time this season over the past week.

It was a huge week on the farm system for the Oakland Athletics, who saw the return of two of their most-anticipated pitching prospects. Both Luis Morales and Steven Echavarria have been on the shelf for the season but debuted this week at Lansing and Stockton, respectively. Jacob Wilson continued to rake at Midland, cashing in nine hits on the week.

Las Vegas Aviators

Record: 16-17, 3rd in PCL West, 6 GB

Season stats

• Logan Davidson - 18 G, 63 PA, 1 HR, 7.9% BB, 41.3% K, .263/.333/.333, 73 wRC+
• Jordan Diaz - 22 G, 89 PA, 1 HR, 9.0% BB, 22.5% K, .215/.292/.329, 56 wRC+
• Stevie Emanuels - 6 ⅓ IP, 10.13 ERA, 16.7% BB, 20.0% K, 1 HR, 6.50 FIP
• Joey Estes - 28 ⅓ IP, 6.04 ERA, 8.0% BB, 30.8% K, 7 HR, 6.52 FIP
• Brett Harris - 27 G, 110 PA, 3 HR, 16.4% BB, 23.6% K, .289/.418/.456, 127 wRC+
• Max Muncy - 18 G, 71 PA, 2 HR, 8.5% BB, 23.9% K, .274/.366/.452, 105 wRC+
• Ryan Noda - 3 G, 14 PA, 0 HR, 28.6%, 42.9%, .111/.429/.111, 88 wRC+
• Tyler Soderstrom - 26 G, 114 PA, 7 HR, 8.8% BB, 25.4% K, .250/.342/.540, 112 wRC+

Top Performers

It was a big week at Triple-A for roster movement, with the Athletics shaking things up quite a bit including calling up Brett Harris to make his major league debut. Harris has had a fantastic season with Las Vegas, and over his final 20 games with the team had a .427 on base percentage, 132 wRC+, and as many walks as strikeouts. Hogan Harris, also called up, hasn’t had the same success this season as command issues continue to plague his career. His 8.22 FIP is among the worst marks in the Pacific Coast League, and there wasn’t much sign of resurgence towards the end as he issued 14 walks and only struck out nine over his final ten innings with the Aviators. He was called up likely purely because he was already on the 40 man roster, and will probably be back down soon. It’s expected that Osvaldo Bido will be called up possibly in exchange for Harris, and he certainly deserves it. Bido has been a consistent arm for Las Vegas aand seen a huge uptick in strikeouts as a part of the Athletics system, with a career-best 30% strikeout rate in 2024. Bido has mostly eschewed the use of his slider this year, opting instead for increased usage of a cutter in the upper 80’s to pair with his mid-90’s fastball.

Coming down to Las Vegas Ryan Noda desperately needs to get right for the A’s, but pitchers actively worked around Noda last week as he saw more balls than strikes and drew four walks in 14 plate appearances. It will be difficult for Noda to get the reps he needs if pitchers continue to treat him with fear, and Noda didn’t make much contact when he did see strikes. The star of the offense was not one of the prospects but actually Daz Cameron, who had 11 hits and 10 RBI in his final four games of the week. Cameron was smoking everything, and has had the most success so far this season as he’s ever had at the Triple-A level. With Max Muncy on the injured list and Harris, Hernaiz, and Ruiz up in Triple-A the offense has thinned out rather quickly, Tyler Soderstrom being the clear leader of the quad. Soderstrom is on a bit of a slide over the last couple of weeks as the power has backed up a bit and he hasn’t been hitting the ball as hard, but if history serves we should all expect this to be a blip that he quickly responds to. He’s been making contact at a decent rate lately and that is the main focus for Soderstrom as the power will come as he makes more contact.

Midland Rockhounds

Record: 17-10, t-1st TL South, 0 GB

Season stats

• Denzel Clarke - 23 G, 102 PA, 2 HR, 6.9% BB, 41.2% K, .161/.235/.258, 41 wRC+
• Ryan Cusick - 10 IP, 0.00 ERA, 3 BB, 11 K, 0 HR, 2.57 FIP
• JT Ginn - 30 ⅓ IP, 4.15 ERA, 7.6% BB, 21.2% K, 3 HR, 4.36 FIP
• Gunnar Hoglund - 33 ⅔ IP, 3.48 ERA, 7.5% BB, 24.6% K, 5 HR, 4.67 FIP
• Brennan Milone - 24 G, 102 PA, 3 HR, 10.8% BB, 23.5% K, .225/.314/.382, 95 wRC+
• Royber Salinas - 24 ⅓ IP, 2.59 ERA, 13.3% BB, 31.4% K, 2 HR, 4.09 FIP
• Daniel Susac - 15 G, 61 PA, 1 HR, 3.3% BB, 39.3% K, .172/.213/.241, 28 wRC+
• Colby Thomas - 25 G, 112 PA, 6 HR, 4.5% BB, 21.4% K, .284/.339/.539, 137 wRC+
• Jacob Wilson - 21 G, 88 PA, 3 HR, 1.1% BB, 11.4% K, .429/.443/.679, 205 wRC+

Top Performers

It’s hard to say Denzel Clarke had a great week — his OPS was below .500 and he had only two hits — but he showed some of his best signs of the season as he cut into his strikeout significantly with four in 17 plate appearances. Clarke has been slow out of the gates after spending most of last year injured. On Sunday he put a bow on his week, absolutely crushing a home run over the batter’s eye in center field. The offense continues to revolve around Jacob Wilson, who continues to hit anything and everything thrown his way. Wilson had nine hits in 18 at bats, with four of those going for doubles. I’ve been impressed by Wilson’s contact this season, as when he swings at good pitches he almost always finds the barrel and he has only two strikeouts in his last 45 plate appearances. Still, Wilson is outlandishly aggressive, seeing only 3.3 pitches per at bat, and has drawn a walk since April 6th — a span of 79 plate appearances.

Gunnar Hoglund had by far his best game since joining the organization, covering seven scoreless innings on Saturday with eight strikeouts and only two hits allowed. Hoglund was full in control and spotting his sinker, forcing nine ground ball outs in the game. His 15 whiffs were also a season-high for him. Royber Salinas will now be heading up to Las Vegas to make his Triple-A debut, though it is coming off arguably his worst start of the year. Salinas’s inefficiency was his major weakness, as he threw 75 pitches over three innings and walked three batters. Of course, Salinas still missed bats at a high rate and struck out five batters, but his command is going to be tested significantly with the jump to Triple-A.

Lansing Lugnuts

Record: 12-15, 4th in MWL East, 6 GB

Season stats

• Henry Bolte - 25 G, 116 PA, 3 HR, 12.9% BB, 38.8% K, .235/.353/.398, 113 wRC+
• Brayan Buelvas - 26 G, 120 PA, 4 HR, 13.3% BB, 22.5% K, .216/.317/.412, 101 wRC+
• James Gonzalez - 21 IP, 3.00 ERA, 2.4% BB, 27.1% K, 3 HR, 3.80 FIP
• Wander Guante - 16 ⅓ IP, 4.96 ERA, 5.9% BB, 23.5% K, 4 HR, 6.03 FIP
• Luis Morales - 6 ⅔ IP, 5.40 ERA, 7.4% BB, 22.2% K, 0 HR, 2.81 FIP
• Will Simpson - 25 G, 113 PA, 2 HR, 22.1% BB, 26.5% K, .353/.496/.565, 191 wRC+
• Jacob Watters - 17 IP, 5.82 ERA, 11.7% BB, 18.2% K, 0 HR, 3.65 FIP

Top Performers

The biggest news of the week from the farm system was Luis Morales, who made his eagerly-awaited return from injury to pitch twice last week. Morales faced significant limitation to his pitch count in both, but the velocity was fine as he was consistently sitting around 97 mph. His slider also looked sharp and forced some whiffs, but his control was what took a hit as he really struggled to land anything in the places he wanted. Morales will definitely be a process to get going this season, but the excitement he brings is palpable. Lansing also got Will Johnston up from Single-A Stockton, who dominated in his lone start with six strikeouts and no walks over five innings. Johnston has dominated at the lower levels and his ability to locate his fastball has improved, but I think this has been more a case of an experienced pitcher taking advantage of lower level hitters as his command and raw stuff don’t really stand out much.

On the offensive end I’m sure you’ll be shocked to learn that Will Simpson got on base a lot last week, with six walks and four hits in 23 plate appearances. Simpson sits in second place in the Midwest League by on base percentage, but his high strikeout rate has been concerning early in the year. He struck out eight times again last week, though when he hits he hits with authority. Simpson tallied his second home run of the week last year. Overall the top prospects just didn’t perform well last week in Lansing, with Henry Bolte only getting one hit. Bolte did draw seven walks to stay on the base paths consistently, and I was impressed by his pitch recognition and zone awareness. He just struggled to make contact in the zone last week, leading the team with nine strikeouts. Brayan Buelvas made plenty of contact last week, but very little of it fell into play as he went 3-23. Buelvas did show off the power with an opposite field home run in the first game of the week, and the leaps his power production have made this season suddenly make his profile much more interesting, though Buelvas is on his third stint in High-A.

Stockton Ports

Record: 10-15, 4th in CAL North, 9 GB

Season stats

• Cole Conn - 24 G, 107 PA, 0 HR, 17.8% BB, 22.4% K, .241/.423/.316, 120 wRC+
• Steven Echavarria - 3 ⅔ IP, 0.00 ERA, 16.7% BB, 16.7% K, 0 HR, 4.82 FIP
• Ryan Lasko - 24 G, 107 PA, 0 HR, 16.8% BB, 29.9% K, .195/.346/.253, 78 wRC+
• Nate Nankil - 23 G, 97 PA, 4 HR, 10.3% BB, 19.6% K, .275/.402/.513, 146 wRC+
• Myles Naylor - 22 G, 99 PA, 3 HR, 21.2% BB, 28.3% K, .154/.333/.308, 83 wRC+
• Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang - 17 ⅔ IP, 1.53 ERA, 3.0% BB, 33.3% K, 1 HR, 2.58 FIP

Top Performers

Luke Mann went crazy for the Ports, and they managed to sneak out with a 5-1 week with the only loss being by a single run. Stockton has really struggled this season, and the offense outside of Mann wasn’t particularly impressive, but the bats came through when they needed to. For Mann’s part he had a hit or more in every single game, reaching base a total of 15 times in the six game series and hitting three home runs. His biggest of these was a grand slam on Friday, though this would be the one game that the Ports came up short. Nate Nankil continued his consistent, high level production, adding on a home run as well in that Friday game. Myles Naylor had a solid week at the plate, his best of the year, and notably hit his third home run of the year in the opener. Naylor got a first pitch slider in the zone that he liked, and with an easy swing took the ball opposite field and stuck it on the berm.

Stockton’s biggest addition last week was 2023 third round pick Steven Echavarria, who looked very good in his return to the mound. Echavarria impressed for much of his start and handled Visalia well, though he ran out of gas in the fourth inning and was removed from the game after 74 pitches. Echavarria’s velocity sat in the low 90s and was up to 96, and I was impressed by the life of the pitch. Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang stayed the most consistent pitcher on the roster, giving the team five one run innings. Zhuang has only walked two batters in 17 ²⁄₃ innings this season and has looked sharp coming back from his long injury recovery.

ACL Athletics

Game Results

Record: 1-1

Top Performers

The Arizona Complex League is opening up a month early this season, and oh was it an eventful two games to open the season. The A’s won an 11-10 game in walk off fashion in the opener. TJ Schofield-Sam led the offense by going 4-4 with two walks, barely outclassing teammate German Ortiz who went 5-5. The starter from that game was Jefferson Jean, the only relatively competent looking pitcher from the weekend and he struck out six batters with no walks over five innings. He was then promoted to Stockton. The A’s led 1-0 after two innings on Monday, then over the next six innings allowed 20 runs to lose 20-6. Not even worth talking about the pitching there, but Schofield-Sam went off again, going 3-4 with a walk.

Roster Moves:

4/30 - RHP Steven Echavarria assigned to Stockton Ports
4/30 - LHP Eduardo Rivera assigned to Stockton Ports from Lansing Lugnuts.
4/30 - RHP Drew Conover assigned to ACL Athletics from Stockton Ports.
4/30 - RHP Jose Dicochea assigned to Stockton Ports from Lansing Lugnuts.
4/30 - LHP Will Johnston assigned to Lansing Lugnuts from Stockton Ports.
4/30 - Lansing Lugnuts activated RHP Luis Morales from the 7-day injured list
5/1 - Stockton Ports placed RHP Tom Reisinger on the 7-day injured list.
5/2 - Oakland Athletics optioned 1B Ryan Noda to Las Vegas Aviators.
5/3 - Oakland Athletics signed free agent RHP Seth Elledge to a minor league contract.
5/3 - Oakland Athletics sent LHP Scott Alexander on a rehab assignment to Stockton Ports.
5/3 - Midland RockHounds sent SS Sahid Valenzuela on a rehab assignment to ACL Athletics.
5/3 - Oakland Athletics selected the contract of 3B Brett Harris from Las Vegas Aviators.
5/3 - Oakland Athletics optioned SS Nick Allen to Las Vegas Aviators.
5/6 - RHP Jefferson Jean assigned to Stockton Ports from ACL Athletics.
5/6 - RHP Royber Salinas assigned to Las Vegas Aviators from Midland RockHounds.
5/6 - RHP Seth Elledge assigned to Midland RockHounds from ACL Athletics.
5/6 - Oakland Athletics recalled LHP Hogan Harris from Las Vegas Aviators.
5/6 - RHP Jefferson Jean assigned to Stockton Ports from ACL Athletics.