This week, I’m rolling out my first A’s Top 50 Prospects list, a midseason look at how the players in the system stack up after the graduations of several players (Daulton Jefferies, A.J. Puk, Cristian Pache, etc.) to the big leagues and before the influx of talent that will occur this month with the draft and the trade deadline.
A note before I begin: this is basically the top 50 prospects who have played in full-season ball. I know two players who haven’t left the complex yet–infielder Angel Arevalo and outfielder Carlos Pacheco–have appeared on several lists, and there are several other players down there (Roger Rodriguez, Angel Rivera, etc.) who appear to have some statistical intrigue. But your guess is as good as mine on where those players should slot in, since there’s very little video of the ACL and DSL A’s, so I’m not going to attempt to evaluate them with such little information. Everyone else is fair game, though.
So, without further ado…
#50.) Austin Briggs, LHRP
Neither Briggs’ draft status–he was a 29th-rounder in 2018–nor his minor league statistics would seem to paint him as much of a prospect, seeing as he owns a career 4.84 ERA and 105/74 K/BB ratio. He’s also a 26-year-old reliever who is repeating Double-A. But focusing on those admittedly damning general indicators misses out on a lot of the specifics of Briggs’ potential. For one, he’s a hard-throwing lefty, sitting in the 93-96 mph range and tossing in a solid mid-80s slider that’s really tough on lefthanders, who have a total of one extra-base hit off him across the past two seasons. Second, Briggs was whiplashed straight from short-season ball to Double-A Midland in 2021, and after being completely overmatched in the early going (14.02 ERA, 1.138 OPS against through June 20), he settled down and was strong the rest of the season (2.87 ERA, .608 OPS against). Briggs also got off to a rough start this year again (8 BB, 1 K in April), but that may have been injury-related, since he then went on the IL for a month and has been excellent in the RockHounds’ closer role since returning.
Not only is Briggs a hard-throwing lefty who’s very tough on his fellow southpaws, his fastball also enters the zone at a very tough angle, with a lot of sink and run despite his high arm slot, and he’s put up a groundball rate over 60% so far this season. The fastball gets on hitters quickly because of Briggs’ somewhat abrupt delivery. He also has a changeup that has shown potential, but he might need to throw it more to keep major league righthanders at bay. Briggs’ command was a major issue in the low minors and early last season, but he’s made significant progress in turning from a thrower into a pitcher over the past calendar year. His ceiling is probably just as a solid groundballing lefty out of the bullpen, but he’s pretty close to big-league ready right now, and so he edges out a lot of other hard-throwing relievers (Hunter Breault, Aiden McIntyre, Trayson Kubo, and Wandisson Charles all got consideration) to sneak onto the very back of this list.
#49.) JJ Schwarz, C
Yep, the list begins with two 26-year-old Double-A repeaters, though Schwarz got a bit of time in Las Vegas earlier this year and actually led the Aviators in average exit velocity (92.2 mph). He’s a well-rounded hitter with a solid approach and enough pop to keep pitchers honest. He’s not a flashy defender behind the plate, but his receiving has come along well over the past couple of seasons. Catchers can develop late: almost half of the 26-year-old Double-A position players who went on to have significant MLB careers in the last 15 seasons have been from this position (Stephen Vogt is perhaps the best example, but there are more than you might think). So though Schwarz only projects as an offense-oriented backup, he has a very real shot to serve in that role for some MLB team over the next few seasons.
#48.) Shane McGuire, C
McGuire is a lefty-hitting catcher with the best approach in the A’s system, with a surgical ability to lay off anything outside the strike zone. He’s walked more than he’s struck out in his first full professional season and has the best K/BB ratio of all A’s full-season minor league hitters. He’s already 23, not known for his defense, and lacking in power, so he projects as a Josh Thole sort of backup catcher. But again, catchers can develop late: McGuire didn’t catch a ton in college, so there could be late defensive growth there, and there’s a chance an adjustment to get his lower body more involved in his very conservative swing could produce some level of power. If he can add a supplemental skill to the superlative approach, McGuire will have big league value.
#47.) Will Simoneit, C
I promise the list is not comprised entirely of old-for-their-level catchers. Simoneit’s a 25-year-old in Midland, but he’s in just his second professional season, signing as a fifth-year senior in 2020 and faring quite well in Lansing last year. He’s similar to Schwarz in that he was an offense-first guy in college who has quieted concerns about his ability to catch and has shown a little bit of everything offensively. Simoneit cuts a big, bruising figure in the box but keeps his swing short and focuses on lining the ball into the gaps. He has a bit more upside–maybe a bit more over-the-fence power will come in time–and defensive acumen than Schwarz and benefits from the same sort of late-developing catcher heuristic, but he’s also hitting .226 to Schwarz’s .320 right now and is thus a lot less entrenched as an upper-minors offensive force. That said, Simoneit has improved on his walk, strikeout, and line drive rates from his strong 2021 in Lansing, so I’m staying fairly positive about his chances to work his way into a backup role for now. Needless to say, you could rank this catcher trio in any order, but I give the ever-so-slight edge to Simoneit; he’s got the best shot to have genuine two-way value behind the plate.
#46.) Stevie Emanuels, RHSP
Emanuels has had almost identical statlines in his two pro seasons so far–both in Lansing–featuring ERAs both around 6. He hasn’t looked the same in both seasons, though, picking up a lot of velocity this year and at times showing a strong four-pitch mix. Emanuels sits in the 92-94 mph range with his four-seam fastball, complementing it with two vertically-oriented breaking balls and a solid changeup. When he’s going well, he looks like a solid back-of-the-rotation starter candidate. Too often, though, he’s been vulnerable to having one or two innings per start where he loses his command and falls behind five straight hitters. He’s got a reasonably simple, stretch-only motion, so there isn’t an easy mechanical explanation (or fix) for the inconsistency. He’s not a wild, spray command type the rest of the time, and he is a big, long-levered guy, so perhaps more pro experience (he’s still shy of 100 career innings after missing most of last season with arm trouble) will eliminate the intermittent wildness. Emanuels is a good candidate to make a usage change to a more offspeed-heavy approach given the quality and quantity of secondary offerings. There’s enough stuff quality here to make bullpen success a possibility, but the repertoire exists for Emanuels to start if the consistency in that role ever shows up.
#45.) Yehizon Sanchez, RHSP
At 21, Sanchez is the third-youngest pitcher to be pitching for an A’s full-season affiliate (he was second until the recent promotion of Dheygler Jimenez to Stockton). It hasn’t been a particularly pretty season for Sanchez this year, and he has yet to put together a consistent season of professional pitching, but he has good stuff and has already gotten promising results in a few different areas. His fastball sits in the 92-95 mph range with good sink and has helped Sanchez get one of the strongest groundball rates in the organization this season (though home runs have still been a big problem in the hitter-friendly Cal League). He also shows an inconsistent but promising pair of offspeed pitches in his big, sweeping slider and long, diving changeup. Since that all adds up to a well-rounded arsenal, the A’s have had Sanchez work mostly in the rotation and focus on finding the strike zone, which was a challenge for him in Rookie ball in previous seasons. He’s accomplished that goal, walking under 8% of opponents this season, but he still isn’t especially mechanically consistent and thus hasn’t located all that well within the zone, leading to lots of hard contact against him (not helped by what’s been a struggling Stockton defense, which has to be taken into account with Ports pitchers in addition to the league environment). Sanchez still has a lot of room to grow into his body and add strength, and he’s clearly not a finished product right now. Odds are that he moves to relief, but he’s been up to 97 mph in that role and would have a chance to have some impact out of the bullpen.
#44.) Brady Basso, LHSP
You probably won’t find Basso on too many A’s lists–he was a 2019 16th-rounder with under 50 pro innings and is currently recovering from Tommy John surgery he underwent last summer. But he looked good early last season in Lansing before the surgery, sitting 91-94 mph with a good curve, a developing cutter and change, and solid feel for pitching. As with all of the injured arms on this list, your guess is as good as mine in terms of what he’ll look like when he returns, but Basso had the look of a quick-moving sleeper when healthy. He’s still fairly new to starting and will need a third pitch to come along to stay in that role, but the fastball/curve combination is formidable enough to play in relief–where he’s touched 96–as well.
#43.) CJ Rodriguez, C
And we’re back to catchers. Rodriguez is a more well-known name than the three backstops below him on this list, being the catcher on last year’s famed Vanderbilt squad and going to the A’s in the fifth-round. Playing almost exclusively in Stockton as a pro so far, Rodriguez has impressed with his approach, showing a discerning eye and solid feel for contact at the plate. He’s also got a plus arm and a good reputation for handling the pitching staff from his college days, though he has yet to gain consistency as a receiver or show much power. Rodriguez was very young for a college draftee–he cleared the draft-eligible sophomore threshold by four days–and is still just 21, so his OBP-driven statline in Stockton is more impressive in content than McGuire’s, and he has more defensive upside. He’ll need to significantly improve his receiving to project as a solid backup catcher, but so do most 21-year-old catchers, and he has the tools to make those improvements in time.
#42.) Jack Weisenburger, RHRP
Weisenburger is a pure reliever who relies heavily on his long, sweeping slurve in the 79-83 mph range; it’s often rated as the best slider in the A’s system. I might give that honor to his former college teammate Blake Beers, but it’s a good pitch, and Weisenburger complements it with a 93-95 fastball with some carry up in the zone and a decent mid-80s changeup. He’s 24 and proven up through Double-A, though he’s had intermittent command challenges. He was off to an improved strike-throwing start this season before getting shut down with an injury after a month. He projects as a solid middle-innings type who misses a lot of bats with the breaking ball.
#41.) Drew Swift, INF
Several things are not in question with Swift, last year’s 8th-rounder from Arizona State. Thankfully, one is that his name will hold up, as he’s a blazing, plus-plus runner who is 23-for-25 on stolen base attempts in his pro career. A second is that he’ll stay at shortstop, where he’s got above-average range and very good agility. A third is the quality of his approach, as he rarely chases and has walked nearly 15% of the time as a pro, mostly in High-A. Unfortunately, he also doesn’t have much power and is an extreme opposite-field hitter. He’s swung with a bit more authority in his first full season than he did in last year’s debut, but he hasn’t shown more than very occasional ability to turn on pitches and will have to prove he won’t get the bat knocked out of his hands in the upper minors. Swift’s value will likely always come primarily from speed and defense–he could probably handle center field in addition to the middle infield if needed–but in order for his batting eye to matter enough to give him a viable offensive skillset, he’ll have to show more consistent ability to impact pitches in the strike zone. Like most of the players in this section of the list, his superlatives give him a fairly high floor, but even his 90th percentile outcome is probably still in the backup/complementary role area.
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