Elephant Rumblings: Baseball America delves into the A’s

MLB news roundup

Welcome to Thursday, guys!

It’s the time of year. The off-season is quietly plowing along, with little to no news regarding our A’s. Thankfully we got something new: Baseball America released their new rankings on the A’s top prospects.

There feels like a bit to unpack here. We don’t know how the BA rates their players exactly but it feels like they haven’t been paying attention to the way the Athletics are talking about Mason Miller. Baseball America rated him as the top Oakland prospect, overall. Now that might have been warranted at one time, the recent updates regarding Miller should have theoretically dented his value. Moving from a starting role into the bullpen takes a lot of value away from a pitcher’s worth, and it feels like BA made their list without considering the bullpen move. Who knows.

Coming in second for the A’s is Tyler Soderstrom, who made his debut with the club last season. He didn’t get into enough games to qualify as an official rookie so he’s still eligible for this prospect list. There’s a chance he cracks the Opening Day roster, but there is a 100% chance we at least see him up with the big lleague club sooner than later, even though his first cup of coffee in the bigs didn’t go great.

Rounding out the top 10 prospects, there are two recent first-round picks (Wilson & Muncy), a second-rounder (Echavarria), fourth-rounder (Clarke), a sixth-rounder (Butler), two acquired via trade (Hernaiz & Boyle), and an international signed (Morales). It’s an interesting group, and a group that should make some noise in the upcoming campaign. There’s a strong chance we see at least five of those names donning the Green & Gold sometime during the 2024 season.

And just because they like to spoil us, Baseball America also gave us their opinions on the top traits across the system; some names you might find a bit familiar:

For a team looking ahead to the future, there’s a solid enough chance that a lot of these guys become major contributors for this club. Prospects don’t always pan out and that’s why you accumulate as many as worldly possible. The A’s have been working hard on building their young talent and we should finally be starting to see some of their efforts. Whether it works out or not is to be determined. Stay tuned!

MLB News & Interest:

• Dodgers in talks to acquire Glasnow, Margot from Rays
• Dodgers met with Yamamoto on Tuesday
• Ohtani can opt out of Dodgers deal if owner or GM depart team
• MLB to give top prospects 4-day spring showcase in 2024
• Francisco Alavarez open to Mets extension
• Nationals plan to use Nick Senzel as primary third baseman
• Orioles stadium lease deal “imminent”, says Maryland Gov.
• Liam Hendricks eyeing Trade Deadline return from TJ surgery
• Mets top prospect Mauricio tears ACL, 2024 status undetermined
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

I’m a fan:

Things aren’t going smoothly across the bay:

Some interesting depth pieces in there:

Nothing but love for Wash, will be rooting for him (not the Angels):