Soderstrom, Muncy headline Aviators opening day roster

The two young players are the most notable names amongst an interesting position player crop

The Las Vegas Aviators will open their season on Friday evening, kicking off the minor league season for the Oakland Athletics affiliates. Their official roster is out and features a number of top prospects for the organization.

Pitching Staff

There is quite a bit of turnover from last season’s team, with the top returning arm by innings pitched being reliever Billy Sullivan. Sullivan appeared in 48 games last season, posting a 5.34 ERA with 54 strikeouts and 52 walks. Five members of the Aviators pitching staff are on Oakland’s 40 man roster, the most notable among those being Joey Estes. Estes was called up in the latter half of the year and struggled with Las Vegas, posting a FIP of 7.32 and the highest walk rate of his career. Home runs were of course a plague to him, with his tendency towards a high fly ball rate representing a detriment in the PCL. Hogan Harris is the leading starter by innings pitched to return from last season, who struggled with his command and had a 6.97 FIP across 57 innings. Adrian Martinez will be taking his fourth trip to the Triple-A level, and his first three all were a slog as his best was nine games in 2021 with a 5.29 FIP. Offseason pickup Osvaldo Bido brings experience to the team as well, and in 2023 he had a 4.37 FIP at Triple-A as well as a 4.10 FIP in 50 ²⁄₃ major league innings. He swung between relief and starting in the Pirates organization, giving the A’s a versatile option moving forward. Zach Jackson will be among the shuffle between Oakland and Las Vegas this year as he narrowly missed the opening day roster and returns to Las Vegas after two solid seasons in Oakland. Jackson’s 2023 was derailed by injuries and Oakland is hoping he can start up a rebound in Vegas.

Position Players

Max Muncy is an intriguing addition to the Triple-A roster, as although he did finish out the season with a strong showing in Double-A he is quite young at 21 and perhaps could have benefitted from some time developing his approach at Double-A. Still, with Oakland’s emphasis on blitzing their top prospects through the minor leagues it’s clear they were impressed with his 51 games in Midland where he posted a 124 wRC+. The infield around Muncy will be full of prospects and others on the 40 man roster, as he’ll be flanked by Jordan Diaz and Brett Harris. Diaz lost his major league spot to signee JD Davis, and will now have a chance to go down to Vegas and hopefully prove he can be useful in the future. Brett Harris returns after a rough stint in Triple-A last season where he posted an 87 wRC+ in 36 games. Logan Davidson will get his second shot at Triple-A as well, and will need a big year to leave behind him the 73 wRC+ he put up in 61 games last year. Davidson hit only three home runs in his 61 games, though he did have his career-low at any level with a 22.0% strikeout rate. Tyler Soderstrom figures to be Vegas’s top player this year. returning to the team after hitting 21 home runs in 77 games. Soderstrom had his struggles making contact in his stint last year and had only an 88 wRC+, but after some big league seasoning and another year of improvement the A’s hope he can get back on track.

Lazaro Armenteros is the only 40-man players in the outfield for Oakland, and will look to build on a 20 home run campaign between High-A and Double-A last year. Armenteros brings with him gargantuan strikeout rates, but the hope will be that he can take advantage of the run environment and put up gaudy power numbers. Max Schuemann returns to Vegas’s outfield after a solid season at the level last year putting out a 109 wRC+ and .402 on base percentage. Schuemann had a very good camp with the big league club, and with his plate discipline and ability for line drive contact could be a midseason call up for the Athletics. The Aviators open up at home at 7:05 pm, with Aaron Brooks on the mound. Brooks was a offseason signee who had a 4.95 ERA primarily as a reliever for El Paso last season. Brooks last pitched in the big leagues in 2022 where he made five appearances for the Cardinals.