Previous installments of the top 50:
#10.) Denzel Clarke, OF
Clarke’s been less raw than expected when he was taken as a high-upside project in the fourth round last season. He laid waste to the Cal League in the first half of the 2022 season, showing a massive power/speed combination, enough athleticism to stick in center field, and good plate discipline. Promoted to Lansing a couple of weeks ago, more of the rawness has showed up, as he’s struck out 23 times in 48 plate appearances, but the five-tool upside remains and Clarke has shown the ability to make adjustments well. He hasn’t yet silenced the notion that he’s a high-risk prospect, and it may be an uneven developmental path from here, but the George Springer sorts of possibilities remain in play.
#9.) Jeff Criswell, RHSP
Criswell was drafted in 2020 as a fastball-slider pitcher who might do just enough with his other pitches to stay a starter, but instead, he’s developed one of the system’s top three changeups, and his curveball suddenly leapt from fringy to average earlier this season as well. He’s still been throwing hard, mostly in the 92-95 mph range with occasional bat-missing carry up in the zone, and the slider remains solid, so Criswell now has a deep repertoire of weapons to pull from. His command comes and goes, but Criswell is poised and doesn’t let innings spiral on him. He missed most of last year with shoulder trouble but has been the one touted pitching prospect in this system to stay healthy and effective for all of 2022 so far. If it weren’t for the changeup’s excellence, Criswell would just be a back-of-the-rotation five-and-dive type, but now his skillset and approach evoke Lucas Giolito’s. Getting quite to Giolito’s level would require some further development in the command department, but even without that, Criswell has a good chance to be a solid rotation contributor.
#8.) Ryan Cusick, RHSP
Yeah, Cusick got beat up to an ERA over 8 in Midland to open the season, a product of some alarming batted ball numbers (37% LD%, .483 BABIP), but the stuff that got him drafted in the first round by the Braves last season was intact, and rushing him to the upper minors to open his first full season was a very aggressive assignment. Cusick releases his 94-98 mph carrying fastball with good extension, and his slider should be a consistent plus offering in time. He’s in the strike zone enough to get by and has the potential for some command gains in time as well. All those ingredients–in addition to the challenge of the assignment itself–are why I’m keeping Cusick fairly close to where I would’ve had him preseason in spite of his struggles there and subsequent oblique injury. But for him to maintain that status once 2023 gets going is going to require Cusick coming up with some sort of serviceable third pitch. He didn’t really throw a changeup in college or his pro debut, so I’ll cut him some slack for the changeup mostly looking like a 90-93 mph fastball with very little life in the early going, but he’s going to have to get it–or something else–much better to remain a starter. But late-game relief awaits if it doesn’t come around–he’s been up to 101 before and could sit closer to triple digits in that role–and Frankie Montas’ trajectory proves that we shouldn’t write pitchers off because the third pitch doesn’t immediately develop. Cusick reminds me a lot of a young Montas.
#7.) Pedro Pineda, OF
Like Cusick, Pineda struggled significantly with an aggressive assignment this year, striking out 45% of the time in the Cal League. He showed better strike zone management than that line would indicate, though, as well as bringing his significant raw power into games despite the contact issues and playing a capable center field for someone so young. So I’m staying in on Pineda and don’t see his struggles as nearly as problematic as what Robert Puason went through last year. He profiles similarly to Clarke but has a wider range of outcomes, which is saying something considering Clarke is high-variance to being with. Like Cusick, Pineda will have to come out strong in 2023 to keep his status as one of Oakland’s best prospects, but he showed too much talent even in his struggles for me to write him off as more of a longshot over two bad months.
#6.) Gunnar Hoglund, RHSP
I don’t have much to say on Hoglund, and this is admittedly more or less a guess placement, much like Mason Miller earlier in the list. He has yet to throw a pro pitch due to recovery from Tommy John surgery, but he’s supposedly set for a return this month, so he’s not behind schedule or anything; he ranked about here before the season and I don’t think any of the players below him have done anything to vault past his placement. In college, Hoglund showed plus command and moderate mechanical deception. His best pitch was a clearly plus slider, but he also sat mostly in the 91-94 mph range and showed a changeup with some potential. He’s seen as a very polished pitcher who will move very quickly once healthy, with some chance that he can move toward a quasi-Shane Bieber slider/command ace role, but it’s anyone’s guess where things will be when he finally takes a pro mound.
#5.) Max Muncy, INF
It hasn’t been the smoothest full-season debut for Muncy, as he’s struck out just a touch under 30% of the time in Low-A, but he’s a 19-year-old shortstop who owns the organizational lead in home runs, has walked over 14% of the time, and has put up a 113 wRC+, so he’s certainly avoided crashing into the Pineda/Puason hurdle of full-season ball. He’s been inconsistent but promising defensively and should at least be a fine defender at second, he’s hit for power without selling out for it, and he’s showed a disciplined approach for somebody so young. There’s still hit tool risk here with the strikeout totals, but Muncy tracks pitches well and mostly looks like he just needs reps to get more consistent on a PA-to-PA and game-to-game basis: he seems to alternately lock into passivity and aggression at times. Middle infielders with this kind of power at this age who are locks to have some infield defensive value don’t come around often, and Muncy will be a huge part of the A’s future if he continues to progress on the contact front.
#4.) Nick Allen, INF
I don’t think much needs to be said about Allen, who’s already established himself as a part-time leadoff hitter and everyday middle infielder in the big leagues over the past couple of weeks. He’s a tremendous defensive infielder with great reactions and body control and a fantastic internal clock, and he’ll be a big leaguer for many years on the strength of his glove alone. Allen has generally hit more than was expected when he was drafted, and he’s made gains in his approach at the plate in 2022, likely cementing his ability to be a regular in the big leagues. Though he’s quite small and opposite-field oriented, he’s grown into some gap power and should be a dependable .255/.325/.370 kind of hitter. He might have a touch less upside than a few of the players directly below him–though you never know if an additional offensive breakout may come–but Allen has easily the second-highest floor in the system and very likely will be an important part of the next several A’s teams.
#3.) Zack Gelof, INF
Gelof has hit .324/.395/.507 in his first 75 minor league games, the majority of which have come in the upper minors. Along the way, he’s moved from his college position of third base over to second and looked good there, likely ensuring he’ll have value on both sides of the ball. Gelof currently has a balanced offensive profile that centers on hitting the ball hard. It remains to be seen if he’ll move toward a bit more of a flyball/Three True Outcomes sort of approach or if he’ll stick with his broader, liner-oriented approach, but he should have significant offensive value either way. He was hitting well enough in Midland in the early going, especially in May after making some improvements to his approach, that I was starting to consider whether Gelof might seriously be in the discussion for jumping over at least one of the two names in front of him, but a torn labrum (in his non-throwing shoulder) halted that momentum. So he’s here for now, but there is a significant gap between Gelof and Allen, and he’s justifiably been included on several midseason Top 100 lists. He has All-Star upside, though he’s early enough in his career (and strikeout-prone) enough to create at least some level of risk.
#2.) Tyler Soderstrom, C/1B
It’s been a bit of an enigmatic year for Soderstrom, as he spent most of the first two months of the season seemingly constantly frustrated with himself on almost a pitch-by-pitch basis in the batter’s box, struggling to adjust to what are likely his first serious challenges as a hitter. He also has dealt with a nagging thumb contusion that forced him off of catching duty for a month, though he was able to keep hitting and playing first base. That said, even with Soderstrom clearly fighting himself and making some baffling swing decisions at times, he’s a 20-year-old with a 106 wRC+ in High-A, one off the organizational lead with 14 home runs (in the org’s toughest hitting environment, at that). He clearly has no-doubt bigtime power, sending majestic shots out to all fields with a ferocious swing. Furthermore, after a 2021 season in which Soderstrom’s catcher defense left a lot to be desired and left most evaluators, myself included, seeing a move off the position to be just about inevitable, he’s looked much improved with his throwing and especially his receiving this year; though there’s still work to be done, he’s now about where you’d expect a 20-year-old catcher to be. He still might move–in no small part due to the player above him on this list–and he’s looked smooth and rangy enough at first to open up some 3B/RF possibilities that are worth trying on at least an experimental basis if the A’s elect to pull the plug on his catching. Soderstrom’s plate discipline has been worrisome enough that he profiles as power-over-hit at the moment, though his tendency to chase has looked more related to pressing than to any sort of pitch/spin recognition issues, so getting back to the more balanced offensive profile he had in 2021 is possible if he can just stay more consistent in executing a plan at the plate. He’s hit well enough since the weather warmed up in May to maintain his status as a clear Top 100 prospect, and the catching improvement has been nice to see, but there’s still some risk here that Soderstrom ends up a first baseman with bad plate discipline numbers. But if he either a) can catch or b) proves that the approach woes of the first half of this year were a one-time blip (understandable given the Lansing cold and the first-time experience of anything but dominance at the plate), Soderstrom will be a big part of the A’s future.
#1.) Shea Langeliers, C
Langeliers has about the highest floor a 24-year-old who has never played a big-league game can have. He’s a tremendous defensive catcher who receives well, has clear leadership ability behind the plate, and owns a plus-plus arm, and he’s got plus power, has a patient approach, and is very tough to beat on the inner half of the plate. The main knock on him coming into the year was his 26% strikeout rate in Double-A last season, raising the possibility that he might balloon up to or above 30% when he got to the big leagues, but he’s raised the walks and cut the strikeouts (to 23%) in Triple-A this year, so even though there will always be some swing-and-miss in his game, he’s allayed a lot of the fear that he’s destined for Mike Zunino-esque batting averages and OBPs. In a perfect world, he’ll show us what Mike Napoli would’ve been if he was a Gold Glove-caliber catcher, but even if not everything translates perfectly to the big leagues, Langeliers should slot in as something like Sean Murphy 2.0 in waiting, and he’s pretty much ready now. Murphy has put up 1 WAR per 35 games in his career, so to have that sort of production potentially be almost a disappointment is saying something about how Langeliers projects. Soderstrom might theoretically have a touch more upside because he’s younger and is more likely to hit over .260+ than Langeliers is, but as Zunino shows, it’s highly unlikely for a player with this kind of skillset to not have very significant major league value even if a lot of things go wrong from here.
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