Athletics Prospects: Luis Morales makes two starts

Morales pitched well in both outings while Henry Bolte had a good weekend for Lansing

There is a lot to talk about with this week in the Oakland Athletics system, as we finally have a full slate of Dominican Summer League games along with some impressive showings in the lower minor leagues. Unfortunately an injury bug in Las Vegas has many of their top guns sidelined, but the week of Lawrence Butler and Ryan Noda gave us something to enjoy.

Las Vegas Aviators

Record: 33-31, 3rd in PCL West, 8 GB

Season stats

• Nick Allen - 21 G, 99 PA, 1 HR, 9.1% BB, 13.1% K, .379/.434/.517, 140 wRC+
• Joe Boyle - 9 ²⁄₃ IP, 5.59 ERA, 22.7% BB, 20.5% BB, 0 HR, 5.22 FIP
• Lawrence Butler - 21 G, 102 PA, 4 HR, 12.7% BB, 20.6% K, .258/.353/.449, 100 wRC+
• Ryan Cusick - 4 ⅓ IP, 10.38 ERA, 14.3% BB, 7.1% K, 0 HR, 7.19 FIP
• Logan Davidson - 31 G, 119 PA, 4 HR, 5.9% BB, 35.3% K, .288/.336/.477, 99 wRC+
• JT Ginn - 16 IP, 6.19 ERA, 7.1% BB, 27.1% K, 3 HR, 5.33 FIP
• Brett Harris - 31 G, 127 PA, 3 HR, 15.7% BB, 25.2% K, .286/.409/.438, 119 wRC+
• Max Muncy - 22 G, 87 PA, 2 HR, 9.2% BB, 23.0% K, .274/.379/.438, 108 wRC+
• Ryan Noda - 31 G, 137 PA, 6 HR, 19.7% BB, 30.7% K, .210/.387/.448, 111 wRC+
• Royber Salinas - 6.1 IP, 9.95 ERA, 24.2% BB, 24.2% K, 1 HR, 7.34 FIP
• Jacob Wilson - 6 G, 25 PA, 0 HR, 4.0% BB, 8.0% K, .375/.400/.458, 119 wRC+

Top Performers

The injuries are starting to pile up quickly for the hitters in Las Vegas, and now with Brett Harris heading to the injured list the Aviators have an entire infield (Harris, Wilson, Muncy, Davidson) worth of players sitting out. Largely the interest for the team now, offensively at least, is just guys who are trying to get work in to try and get back to the major leagues. For Lawrence Butler the results so far have been unspectacular, but there is some traits to like from his time in Vegas. Butler is starting to work his strikeout rate down without really seeing a dip in how hard he is hitting the ball, though at the moment he isn’t making the most ideal contact. Much of his hard hit balls have been on the ground which has limited his power production in recent weeks, but he’s been fine overall and has had solid results against all pitch types.

Ryan Noda got off to a brutal start in Vegas as his struggles from his time in Oakland unfortunately translated down. It seems though that the chance to reset mentally and get low-pressure at bats has started to pay its dividends. In the previous week Noda went deep twice, and while he didn’t have quite the same power output in El Paso he’s really starting to make more contact. Strikeouts will always be Noda’s limitation, but if he can keep that number under or around the 30% there is enough juice in his bat and enough walks in his approach to feel confident he can return to Oakland and contribute in a meaningful way in the second half.

JT Ginn has been smacked around in both of his appearances since his injured list stint, last week allowing five runs to the Chihuahuas. Much of this is due to both high sinker usage and his recent tendency towards scatting fastballs, and right now there seems to be a focus on developing his sinker and locating it better. Overall the raw quality of his stuff is major league level, and I think he’s showing that he can round into being a 4/5 starter as long as he locates his sinker better than he has especially in his last start. Ginn can’t survive in the upper half of the zone and we’re seeing that as he has been hit a bit in the past few starts.

Joe Boyle on the other hand has just been flat-out bad in his rehab and now official starts with Las Vegas. Triple-A hitters, unsurprisingly, have no real answer for Boyle when he is anywhere near the zone, however even a whisper of location has eluded him in his few starts this year. Boyle has a bit to go before he will be ready to get back to Oakland in any form, though at least his stuff has looked good and he’s stretching out deeper into games now.

Midland Rockhounds

Record: 34-24, 2nd TL South, 4 GB

3-3 last week

Season stats

• Cooper Bowman - 54 G, 244 PA, 7 HR, 12.3% BB, 19.3% K, .271/.365/.435, 125 wRC+
• Denzel Clarke - 41 G, 172 PA, 4 HR, 7.6% BB, 40.7% K, .192/.262/.321, 63 wRC+
• James Gonzalez - 30 ⅓ IP, 4.15 ERA, 10.4% BB, 20.9% K, 1 HR, 3.49 FIP
• Gunnar Hoglund - 66 IP, 3.41 ERA, 7.8% BB, 21.3% K, 9 HR, 4.61 FIP
• Brennan Milone - 52 G, 217 PA, 5 HR, 11.5% BB, 22.1% K, .274/.373/.419, 125 wRC+
• Jack Perkins - 9 ⅓ IP, 3.86 ERA, 12.5% BB, 25% K, 0 HR, 3.31 FIP
• Daniel Susac - 37 G, 155 PA, 2 HR, 4.5% BB, 29.7% K, .260/.297/.349, 80 wRC+
• Colby Thomas - 54 G, 239 PA, 14 HR, 5.9% BB, 18.8% K, .273/.329/.565, 141 wRC+

Top Performers

Cooper Bowman has continued to be outstanding for Midland, filling in with Colby Thomas as really the only two guys of late who have been consistent performers for the team. Thomas had a bit of a down week against San Antonio as for the first time in awhile he wasn’t able to get one over the wall, though he still had four extra base hits and more importantly walked more than he struck out. Thomas has been fantastic and is probably only blocked from Las Vegas by the number of guys Oakland wants getting looks up there, but to circle back to Bowman here. It was certainly concerning to see Bowman get off to such a poor start to the year, as he is a guy who is coming up on rule 5 eligibility this winter and had enough of a hit tool to be an intriguing guy in need of proving his worth to the organization. Ever since May though the proof has come flying in, with him carrying a 168 wRC+ since the start of that month. Last week he was no different, hitting the ball at his ever-increasing rate to boost his on base percentage. He also ran into his first home run since mid-May, a welcome sight as his power production had seen a small dip in recent weeks. Bowman too is a player that is really pushing for a chance to prove himself against Triple-A pitching, and Oakland will probably need to make decisions soon on which guys they have to clear out so they can focus on the development of the players they value long term. Of this group I’m not sure I would fit Bowman in there, with guys like Max Muncy, Jacob Wilson, Darell Hernaiz well above him in the pecking order, but in Thomas’s case specifically there is no reason to not feel he has the electric nature needed to be an exciting piece worthy of developing with priority.

For every time Denzel Clarke has disappointed this season, and there have been unfortunately many, he always brings in the flashes of brilliance to keep interest just strong enough. Clarke’s struggles staying on the field have not been helpful to his development this season and he’s been a bit rough since getting back to playing full time this month, but he showed one of those flashes last Thursday with his fourth home run of the year. Getting an outside pitch Clarke reached out and lined one out to right, turning what would be merely an average fly out for most hitters into a two-run home run. The hope truly centers on Clarke getting healthy and getting a real shot next year, as with all of the starts and stops to his development over the last two it’s fair to give him some leniency still.

Lansing Lugnuts

Record: 30-28, 3rd in MWL East, 5 GB

Season stats

• Euribiel Angeles - 51 G, 222 PA, 5 HR, 5.0% BB, 11.7% K, .288/.324/.438, 111 wRC+
• Henry Bolte - 55 G, 253 PA, 8 HR, 13.0% BB, 32.8% K, .289/.403/.521, 158 wRC+
• Brayan Buelvas - 52 G, 236 PA, 6 HR, 14.4% BB, 21.6% K, .268/.377/.475, 138 wRC+
• Will Johnston - 26 ⅔ IP, 3.71 ERA, 6.4% BB, 27.5% K, 3 HR, 3.71 FIP
• Luis Morales - 28 ⅓ IP, 3.81 ERA, 9.5% BB, 22.4% K, 3 HR, 4.41 FIP
• Will Simpson - 50 G, 216 PA, 4 HR, 17.1% BB, 25.9% K, .284/.407/.460, 145 wRC+
• Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang - 7 IP, 3.86 ERA, 7.1% BB, 32.1% K, 0 HR, 1.88 FIP

Top Performers

It was a strange week for Henry Bolte in Dayton, as he had his three worst games of the season then turned around and got to being the Bolte we’ve come to enjoy watching the rest of this season. Bolte threw up a hat trick of golden sombreros for use during the week’s game, but Friday came around and Bolte settled into the weekend with six hits over three games and three extra base hits. It was hopefully just a blip, one young power-hitters are prone to, and he’s been basically unstoppable in every other game for the last month and a half.

How’s Cole Conn doing for an eye-opening season. There really wasn’t much to be excited about on his selection in the 12th round last season, other than that it was known he had something of a hit tool to his name. Then he came out and repeated his walk rates from his final season in college, and some level of interest grew at the beginning of the season though tempered by his age relative to competition. Now Conn has decided suddenly that he can hit for power, clubbing four home runs in his final 12 Single-A games before coming up to Lansing and immediately being one of their impact bats. I am skeptical that Conn is going to have this sort of impact moving into Double-A and beyond, but his two home runs last week and .939 OPS over his past 20 games certainly serves as an intriguing stretch to follow.

The Athletics are being awfully careful with Luis Morales, but it can’t be a disappointment to see him go out there and slowly round into form even with a limited work load. With him facing a two-start week Oakland didn’t let his pitch count stretch out as it had in some other starts, but he still managed to cover four innings across his two starts. His Tuesday was more mediocre, with his showing off some good life on his fastball and slider the first trip through the lineup, but fading as it flipped back over and he had to face guys a second time. They got another look late in the week against Morales and this time he dominated, retiring 11 of the 14 batters he faced without issuing a walk.

Stockton Ports

Record: 23-33, 4th in CAL North, 14 GB

Season stats

• Steven Echavarria - 22 IP, 7.36 ERA, 10.7% BB, 19.6% K, 1 HR, 4.51 FIP
• Ryan Lasko - 52 G, 244 PA, 3 HR, 16.8% BB, 27.9% K, .220/.361/.315, 96 wRC+
• Nate Nankil - 47 G, 199 PA, 5 HR, 14.6% BB, 17.1% K, .256/.402/.419, 130 wRC+
• Myles Naylor - 50 G, 222 PA, 6 HR, 16.2% BB, 34.7% K, .174/.311/.304, 75 wRC+

Top Performers

Stockton drew San Jose last week, and they managed to dominate and take five of six games. Much of that was behind the bat of Ryan Lasko, who is finally starting to show the signs of life we’ve been hoping for all season. Lasko’s swing and miss is not encouraging and he has still struck out a lot during this stretch, but he is drawing walks and hitting the ball hard and that’s really what you can ask for at this point. Lasko has a .913 OPS over a stretch of 15 games during which he has hit safely 14 times, and last week added two home runs to his season total. Lasko should not have struggled against Single-A pitching to the level he has this season, and it’s nice to see him finally doing what he should however we really need to see more of this guys going forward.

Myles Naylor also went deep this past week, as he got a pitch out away from his body and was able to extend on the ball like he likes to do. He took the pitch the other way with easy power, depositing it over the right center field wall to cap off a big five-run inning for the Ports in one of their wins. Naylor was much himself of late, with strikeout-ridden performances pocked by flashes of the player Naylor could ultimately be.

It has seemed that Steven Echavarria is finding his footing in Single-A, as his fastball is clipping the zone with more than regularity and now he has turned into a player that largely has a good enough mix of pitches to not run into trouble in Single-A. Echavarria had by far his best outing on Thursday, striking out five batters over four scoreless innings where it seemed the Giants had no real answer to him. There is obviously refinement needed, but given how late of a start Echavarria got and how young he is there is plenty of reason for optimism coming from his recent starts.

ACL Athletics

Record: 8-19, 5th in ACL East, 10.5 GBSeason Stats

• Cesar Gonzalez - 8 G, 31 PA, 0 HR, 6.5% BB, 41.9% K, .241/.290/.345, 63 wRC+
• German Ortiz - 26 G, 112 PA, 2 HR, 16.1% BB, 18.8% K, .319/.441/.429, 134 wRC+
• Carlos Pacheco - 18 G, 67 PA, 11.9% BB, 23.9% K, .245/.403/.302, 102 wRC+

Top Performers

The young bats in the Arizona Complex League are starting to get some momentum behind them, with Carlos Pacheco and German Ortiz leading the younger of the squad’s bats. Pacheco struggled out the outset of the season but since returning from a brief absence prior to which he performed well, he is once again off-and-running with four hits in his past three games. The strikeouts are slowly coming down and Pacheco is providing reason for excitement in the lineup. Ortiz has been a relative standout since that opening day 5-5 showing, and a turn of the calendar to June hasn’t slowed enthusiasm. Six hits in his past four games could be considered eye-catching, but not nearly as impressive as his eight walks to three strikeouts in the seven games he has played in June.

DSL A’s

Record: 1-5, 9th in DSL West, 3.5 GB

Season Stats

• Edgar Montero - 5 G, 21 PA, 1 HR, 14.3% BB, 23.8% K, .176/.300/.353, 77 wRC+
• Jose Ramos - 5 G, 17 PA, 0 HR, 11.8% BB, 29.4% K .133/.235/.267, 38 wRC+

The DSL season isn’t going well for the Athletics yet. Edgar Montero was the top signing from this past international class, and he has not been disappointing at all. The overall numbers are rough due to the small samples we’re working with, but the inputs in his first five games with regards to contact and his lone home run are certainly nothing to scoff at. Jose Montero has struck out a bit more, but was expected to be somewhat more raw than Montero so this isn’t a major setback or concern.