Oakland’s system is slowly on the way back up after bottoming out during their last run of contention, with newfound depth in right-handed pitching, especially six-foot right-handers, so maybe that’s their new inefficiency. They’re lighter on potential impact position players, but what they do have in that department is either in the middle of the diamond or the occasional plus defender on a corner.
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1. Franklin Barreto, SS (Ranked No. 56)
2. A.J. Puk, LHP (Ranked No. 93)
3. Grant Holmes, RHP
4. Matt Chapman, 3B
5. Jharel Cotton, RHP
6. Daniel Gossett, RHP
7. Frankie Montas, RHP
8. Dakota Chalmers, RHP
9. Richie Martin, SS
10. Yairo Munoz, SS
Non-top 100 guys
Grant Holmes went to Oakland in the Rich Hill/Josh Reddick swap, a six-foot right-hander with plus velocity and a plus breaking ball, but his command in pro ball has never measured up to what was expected of him out of high school. The A’s are more than comfortable with six-foot right-handed starters, though, and given his performance prior to the deal this seems like a typical Oakland play for a guy whose stock might be down slightly.
Matt Chapman, their first-round pick in 2014, hit 36 homers across two levels last year with his usual mix of high strikeouts and 70 defense at third. I think he’s a big league regular, but his chance to be more is suppressed by the contact rate (30 percent strikeout rate in 2016).
Jharel Cotton looked great in five big league starts to end the season and should be in Oakland’s rotation on Opening Day. He’ll show four pitches, with an average fastball and plus changeup, and has really matured as a pitcher over the last year. He has to work out as a starter because he doesn’t warm up quickly enough to work out of the bullpen.
Daniel Gossett is another short right-hander, but he throws 91-93 mph and will touch 96 with a four-pitch mix, including a hard breaking ball at 82-83 and a cutter. He gets on top of the ball extremely well, so I don’t think his height is a big issue, and his 57 percent ground ball rate doesn’t hurt the argument that he’s going to stay a starter and maybe end up a league-average one.
Frankie Montas has hit 101 out of the bullpen before and will sit upper 90s as a starter, flashing a good slider, but the command and control aren’t starter caliber right now. Given his delivery and injury history, he’s more likely to end up in the bullpen.
Dakota Chalmers has a plus fastball and plus curveball right now but also has some violence in the delivery that contributes to command and control problems. He led the New York-Penn League in homers allowed last summer and walked more than a man every other inning, but the raw stuff is still there, and he’ll pitch at 20 in 2017.
Richie Martin, the Athletics’ first-round pick in 2016, hit just .230/.322/.312 in the high-A California League as a 21-year-old. His year was a shock given his performances at the plate in the SEC and in the Cape Cod League. He can still play shortstop, and Oakland is trying to get him to stick with a consistent mechanical approach at the plate to see if that will bring his offense back.
Yairo Munoz spent the year in Double-A at 21 and struggled, as you’d expect given his rawness at the plate, including a .286 OBP but with a surprisingly low strikeout rate. He’s a big kid who looks like he’ll end up with plus power if he hits enough to get to it, but I think he’s also going to grow off shortstop, and Oakland had him play some third and second in 2016.
Right-hander Daulton Jefferies (11) had a chance to go in the top 10 in the 2016 draft before a SLAP tear in his shoulder effectively ended his junior season. Oakland took him in the sandwich round and rehabbed him for most of the summer. He’s another six-foot right-hander with a good delivery, above-average velocity and plus control right now that should carry him quickly to Double-A. Right-hander Heath Fillmyer (12) was a converted guy at a New Jersey junior college when the A’s took him in the fifth round in 2014, showing velocity then and some feel for a breaking ball with a clean delivery. He’s developed quickly as a pitcher, including adding a solid-average changeup for a three-pitch mix that should let him start. He’s already had success up through eight Double-A starts. He’s a potential midrotation starter as well and is unusual for Oakland in that he’s 6-foot-1.
Catcher Sean Murphy (13) could be a quick mover in 2017 once he’s fully recovered from the hamate injury that wrecked his junior year at Wright State. He’s got a plus-plus arm and projects as a premium defensive catcher with power once he has his hand strength back. If he doesn’t develop much as a hitter, he’s probably still a good big league backup, with above-average regular upside if he improves his approach at the plate, including plate discipline, enough to get to a 45 hit tool.
Right-hander Skylar Szynski (14) was their fourth-round pick in 2016, a prep pitcher from Indianapolis who’s already throwing 92-94 mph with a power curveball and some feel for a changeup. He and Chalmers are their two big-upside arms in the lower levels. They signed Cuban shortstop Lazaro “Lazarito” Armenteros (15) for $3 million in July, after the player’s initial demands for Moncada money went by the wayside. He’s a physically mature kid with present power and good running speed underway. He has some stiffness to his body that gave teams pause about whether he’ll stay on the dirt and whether he’ll hit enough to reach the power. At $3 million he seems like a bargain for Oakland given the power upside.
Chad Pinder (16) looks like a good utility infielder who can handle shortstop and play well on defense at second or third, but there’s just nowhere near the plate discipline here to call him a regular. Right-hander Logan Shore (17) is a command-and-control right-hander with good deception but nothing really above-average in his arsenal, probably a fifth starter in the end. First baseman Matt Olson (18) draws a ton of walks and has plus power, but he might have just a 40 hit tool, and as a poor defender it’s hard to project him as a regular. He was a top 100 guy after a huge season in high-A at age 20 but hasn’t carried that forward over the last two seasons.
Casey Meisner (19), acquired from the Mets for Tyler Clippard in 2015, had a miserable season in high-A after someone lowered his arm slot, dropping his velocity and costing him depth on his breaking ball. He’s 6-foot-7, and the lower slot took away the advantage of his height. Right-hander Paul Blackburn (20) is a command right-hander whose projection never really projected, so he throws a ton of strikes with mostly fringe-average stuff and might be a fifth-starter. The A’s acquired him from the Mariners in November for Danny Valencia. Their 14th-round pick in 2016, University of Memphis right-hander Nolan Blackwood (21), is a sidearmer with good velocity and should move quickly as a right-handed specialist.
2017 impact: Cotton belongs in their rotation this year. Montas should end up in the big leagues, although it might be in relief since he missed nearly all of 2016 and probably won’t take on a full starter’s workload this season. Gossett should start in Triple-A and be on the short list for a summer call-up when they need a fresh starter.
Sleeper: I thought Szynski was a minor steal where the A’s got him, given the combination of present stuff and potential development as a pitcher (rather than a thrower, dominating kids with pure velocity). Maybe he'll be a No. 3 starter in time if he carries over some gains from 2016 into full-season ball this year.
The fallen: Renato Nunez stalled out in Triple-A last year with a .228/.278/.412 line, and he’s been passed at third base on the depth chart by Chapman. Nunez was never much of a defender, but he’d show power and has a good enough wing to hit for average -- it just hasn’t happened, and Oakland’s $2.2 million investment in him in 2012 looks like it won’t pan out.