Oakland Athletics Prospects: Nick Kurtz placed on injured list

It’s a disappointing outcome after a terrific start to Kurtz’s pro career

Las Vegas Aviators

Record: 62-64, 25-26 2nd half, 4th in PCL West (5 GB)

Season stats

• Cooper Bowman - 19 G, 82 PA, 0 HR, 11.0% BB, 23.2% K, .250/.333/.333, 72 wRC+
• Logan Davidson - 67 G, 256 PA, 7 HR, 7.0% BB, 34.0% K, .276/.340/.448, 94wRC+
• Brett Harris - 54 G, 231 PA, 7 HR, 13.0% BB, 21.6% K, .284/.385/.442, 111 wRC+
• Darell Hernaiz - 15 G, 60 PA, 2 HR, 11.7% BB, 16.7% K, .308/.383/.500, 119 wRC+
• Gunnar Hoglund - 22 IP, 4.91 ERA, 7.8% BB, 22.2% K, 4 HR, 5.55 FIP
• Max Muncy - 50 G, 203 PA, 8 HR, 8.9% BB, 24.6% K, .277/.374/.491, 115 wRC+
• Colby Thomas - 50 G, 218 PA, 10 HR, 7.3% BB, 28.0% K, .266/.344/.526, 110 wRC+
• Jacob Wilson - 26 G, 116 PA, 4 HR, 7.8% BB, 4.3% K, .396/.448/.613, 166 wRC+

Top Performers

It didn’t take long for Jacob Wilson to figure things out in his rehab with Las Vegas, as he had seven hits in his final four games. Hopefully he can stay healthy and get a real run in Oakland now, where his presence in the lineup and in the field immediately improves a roster that has the second-worst production in baseball from the shortstop position this season. The unfortunate news is that Max Muncy is back on the injured list, and losing nearly an entire season now to injury in an age-21 year is certainly a disappointment. Muncy looked every bit the part of a top 100 prospect when he was on the field, showing out on both sides of the ball, and I hope that he can get healthy enough to play later this year and especially spend some time in the Arizona Fall League.

Darell Hernaiz is back in Triple-A again, and he started off hot with a double in his first game. Hernaiz clearly needs some more development time and certainly spending most of the year injured didn’t help, but hopefully he can go down to Triple-A and hit himself back into a major league role soon. Hernaiz had a clear path to a major league job coming into the season but his struggles now have him competing with a handful of rising prospects for the final couple of infield spots. Everything was going well for Colby Thomas for awhile, but they have kind of flat lined a bit lately as the past few series having been kind to him. Thomas is hitting the ball harder than he was in his first month or so at the level, but has seen a huge uptick in swing-and-miss over his past couple of weeks and has continued to run way-too-high chase rates. Thomas did break out of things with a home run on Tuesday and had a couple of hard-hit balls, but it may take another trip to Triple-A before he really figures out the approach. Even with his approach guys with his bat speed and barrel ability tend to find ways to make themselves into major leaguers, and I think for Thomas he will ultimately be one and his ceiling is going to rely on just how much he can limit his chase tendencies.

Gunnar Hoglund’s start last week went how many of them do, as his inability to avoid giving up home runs popped up again and so far he has allowed five in just 26 innings. Now in Hoglund’s defense this is basically the worst possible run environment to throw a pitcher who struggles with home runs into, and in most other categories he has done well for himself. Hoglund has left breaking balls over the plate too often and gotten hurt that way, but both his fastball and changeup have been fantastic. He’s done a great job working different levels in the zone to allow that duo to play up, but he has left his breaking balls up far too much and it’s preventing them from succeeding like they did at Double-A. Once he starts mixing in better location of his slider in particular he should be fine, as those pitches are doing their jobs when they are well-place and his overall poor whiff rates should improve once those pitches start finding the outer and lower edges. After a long period of time where he couldn’t throw enough strikes to do anything good Pedro Santos has been much better of late, striking out ten batters in 6 ¹⁄₃ innings over his past three series. Santos’s pitch mix is so good and he can force swing-and-miss from anything in his arsenal, but his command is still a long way from making him ready to be an effective major league pitcher.

Midland Rockhounds

Record: 71-50, 31-21 2nd half, 1st TL South (+2 G)

Season stats

• Mason Barnett - 21 ⅓ IP, 3.38 ERA, 6.7% BB, 27.8% K, 3 HR, 4.03 FIP
• Henry Bolte - 38 G, 165 PA, 4 HR, 9.7% BB, 36.4% K, .233/.321/.390, 102 wRC+
• Denzel Clarke - 100 G, 405 PA, 11 HR, 8.1% BB, 30.9% K, .266/.336/.449, 119 wRC+
• James Gonzalez - 87 ⅓ IP, 3.40 ERA, 8.6% BB, 21.9% K, 4 HR, 3.41 FIP
• Nick Kurtz - 5 G, 15 PA, 0 HR, 13.6% BB, 20.0% K, .308/.400/.385, 128 wRC+
• Brennan Milone - 111 G, 480 PA, 13 HR, 9.8% BB, 21.0% K, .281/.356/.447, 125 wRC+
• Jack Perkins - 56 IP, 3.86 ERA, 11.9% BB, 31.7% K, 2 HR, 3.01 FIP
• Daniel Susac - 76 G, 322 PA, 11 HR, 4.3% BB, 26.1% K, .271/.314/.452, 112 wRC+
• Cheng Zhong-Ao Zhuang - 19 IP, 0.47 ERA, 7.0% BB, 23.9% K, 1 HR, 3.10 FIP

Top Performers

The Rockhounds got a huge boost in their profile when 4th overall pick Nick Kurtz was promoted at the beginning of last week, but that lasted unfortunately little time as Kurtz strained his hamstring and was placed on the injured list. For a guy whose biggest question coming into the draft was whether he could stay healthy long term this is certainly not a positive sign, but it’s not a major injury though it could end his season prematurely. Kurtz has looked incredible since being drafted and has a good chance to play in the major leagues given Oakland’s aggression with prospects. and everything from the plate discipline to the power to the contact skill has already played in a short time in the pro ranks. Kurtz already looks the part, so now it’s going to be a matter of getting to see more of him play.

Most of the Midland lineup has shown some positive signs as of late, though it’s been a bit more mixed for Denzel Clarke. His overall numbers are down as he isn’t hitting the ball with as much impact as earlier in the season, but it’s also necessary to be patient as he adjusts his approach to maximize his on base skill. Clarke has cut a gash in his strikeout rates with them sitting at 23.4% this month while also drawing walks nearly three times as often. He may not have needed quite this extreme of a change to be a big leaguer, but improving both of those numbers were ultimately going to be necessary for him to succeed against higher level pitching and he has done that. He’s proved throughout his career that he can make adjustments when asked to and I have no questions on his ability to hit the ball hard. He may not settle in as a guy with quite this sort of contact/displine approach in order to maximize his value, but I expect the power will come for him.

Speaking of power coming on, Daniel Susac has been on a terrific run at the plate with four home runs in his past nine games and a .283 isolated power over his past two months of play. Susac lowered his hands a bit and quieted down the moving parts in his hand in his swing, and as a result he’s finding the barrel with much more frequency and being able to show off his raw power. Susac’s development in the second half of the season has been a real bright spot and restores a ton of confidence in his prospect status, though he still needs to continue to improve his approach and chase rates in order to make the major leagues. Susac has been more strikeout-prone over the past month. The adjustments for Henry Bolte are starting to take effect as well as he has cut his strikeout rate significantly over the past two series and started hitting the ball like he did in Lansing. Bolte is starting to cut back on how often his front side flies open and keeping his swing on a line towards contact, and has done a better job of attacking outside pitches rather than just yanking and often rolling over them.

Jack Perkins took a bit of time to sharpen up after coming off of the injured list, but he has been absolutely dominant over his past few outings and in his most recent went seven scoreless innings with only one hit allowed. Perkins is throwing more strikes and hitters can’t do anything with it, with him striking out 35% of batters and posting a 2.42 FIP dating back to July 28th. The next step for Perkins will be refining his fastball command, but he has multiple pitches that can miss bats in and out of the zone and does a terrific job of manipulating the shape and location of his slider to fool hitters. Both his slider and changeup have taken steps forward into being major league strikeout pitches, and as long as he continues to improve his command he should see time in Oakland next year. Mason Barnett has been fantastic since coming over to Oakland, but had an off week where his command wasn’t working well for him. He allowed two home runs and six total runs, but his overall work with Midland has been impressive as he has shown four average or better pitches.

Lansing Lugnuts

Record: 56-63, 24-30 2nd half, 5th in MWL East, (10.5 GB)

Season stats

• Jared Dickey - 22 G, 96 PA, 1 HR, 7.3% BB, 13.5% K, .259/.333/.341, 98 wRC+
• Ryan Lasko - 32 G, 141 PA, 1 HR, 12.1% BB, 21.3% K, .233/.340/.317, 97 wRC+
• Luis Morales - 74 IP, 4.14 ERA, 10.8% BB, 25.2% K, 7 HR, 4.01 FIP
• Kade Morris - 22 IP, 7.82 ERA, 6.0% BB, 12.8% K, 3 HR, 5.34 FIP
• Nate Nankil - 22 G, 92 PA, 1 HR, 5.4% BB, 19.6% K, .373/.424/.470, 158 wRC+
• Will Simpson - 109 G, 474 PA, 16 HR, 14.6% BB, 24.7% K, .270/.373/.480, 142 wRC+

Top Performers

Nate Nankil has been going off for the Lugnuts lately, and has quickly taken over as the best hitter in this lineup with his recent performances. Nankil hasn’t struggled with the adjustment to High-A pitching as he continues to hit hard line drives to all fields, and he has an intriguing blend of contact ability and leverage in his swing. Nankil hasn’t produced much power at Lansing just yet, but hit a towering home run last week and could continue to grow into more game power given his swing and body. The real red flag for Nankil in Lansing has been his low walks rates, and being stuck in a corner will stress that power production to be maximized, but finding Nankil in the seventh round has proven to be a steal for Oakland.

It’s been less of a fun ride lately for Ryan Lasko, who since starting off well at Lansing hasn’t had the same success in the last couple of weeks. A lot of that is just noise, however, as Lasko is still making much more contact in the zone and showing his disciplined approach, but has started rolling over ground balls to his pull side and hasn’t had the same success on batted balls as his earlier small sample. Lasko had a 1-18 performance in the series against Quad Cities, but only struck out four times. Will Simpson didn’t have the greatest week to end off his Lugnuts career aside from a home run and a double in the Friday game, but it was definitely time for him to make the move up to Double-A. Simpson has done a better job of limiting his swing and miss in recent weeks while his power blossomed down the stretch to provide more impact to his profile. Simpson had a .245 isolated power over his final 30 games with Lansing, 49 points higher than it was through the first three and a half months of the season, and this increased focus on power production will be important for him moving forward in order to have the offensive profile to stick as a first baseman or corner outfielder. Simpson’s going to be challenged to make contact at the Double-A level, but if he can figure out that level while maintaining a solid power output that would do a lot to prove he can be a regular at the big league level.

Kade Morris has not had a great stretch since his trade over to Oakland’s system, as he has focused on pounding the zone with his sinker and isn’t missing many bats. Morris is producing a ton of ground balls, especially roll-over ground balls, but a few costly mistakes on home runs and some poor batted ball luck have led to him not putting up any particularly interesting stat lines since joining the system. Morris is going to have to command his slider better and force more whiffs with that pitch in order to take the next step, as even with him being solid at forcing poor batted balls a 12.8% strikeout rate isn’t going to cut it.

Luis Morales entered August on a great streak of pitching but he hasn’t done much of anything good in his past three outings. Morales allowed four runs in 4 ¹⁄₃ innings last week against Quad Cities, and after a good stretch where his fastball command seemed to be improving and he was landing secondaries with relative consistency he hasn’t had the same success in recent outings. Morales is already well past his innings total from last season, not to mention his delayed start to the year with injury, so it’s fair to assume he is dealing with fatigue this late in the year. The A’s only had Morales go past 70 pitches twice in his first 15 outings but have now had him go over 70 in five straight including a season-high 96 pitches in each of the last two starts.

Morris 7 K, lots of hR

Morales 6 K, 4 ¹⁄₃ IP, 4 R

Stockton Ports

Record: 44-54, 18-37 2nd half, 4th in CAL North, 14 GB

Season stats

• Steven Echavarria - 57 ⅔ IP, 6.55 ERA, 12.8% BB, 20.9% K, 4 HR, 5.07 FIP
• Clark Elliott - 48 G, 208 PA, 6 HR, 13.5% BB, 20.7% K, .296/.432/.500, 151 wRC+
• Rodney Green - 13 G, 63 PA, 1 HR, 9.5% BB, 31.7% K, .278/.349/.370, 95 wRC+
• Joshua Kuroda-Grauer - 12 G, 63 PA, 0 HR, 11.1% BB, 7.9% K, .389/.476/.389, 147 wRC+
• Myles Naylor - 106 G, 460 PA, 10 HR, 16.3% BB, 32.6% K, .197/.329/.328, 82 wRC+
• Tommy White - 13 G, 63 PA, 1 HR, 4.8% BB, 15.9% K, .190/.254/.276, 44 wRC+

Top Performers

The Athletics decided to clear Stockton’s talent pool out relatively quickly, but still this team is interesting following the draft despite some of the struggles of the two top draftees remaining. Tommy White has really struggled so far in his short professional career, though it seems now he might have found his groove in the past few games. White hit his first home run on Sunday when he jumped on a hanging slider and hit a rocket out to left field. White has hit safely in his past three games with multiple hits in two of those, and there’s no reason at all to think he can’t continue to crush this level of pitching like that. Rodney Green has managed solid numbers despite a ton of swing-and-miss, and when he does hit the ball he hits it hard. Green is a bit less of a surprise to see struggling as his swing is going to give him trouble even in the lower levels of pro ball, but as long as he continues to hit the ball hard and make improvements there is so much to dream on watching him play. Green has three doubles in his past four games and while there has been that consistent swing-and-miss he is still putting up good at bats from an approach perspective.

10th-round pick Cameron Leary hasn’t had the best of starts to his professional career, but on Sunday he was the star of the show for Stockton with three extra base hits including his first career home run. Leary has been making contact and drawing walks, but hasn’t been having hits fall consistently. Leary got a fastball up in the zone and showed off quick hands, turning on it and just clearing the left field fence. Leary starts with an open setup and never really closes off completely, and because of this pretty much is ready to crush anything on the inner two thirds of the plate to all fields. Despite a quick, short-levered swing he produces solid pop off of the bat, but that setup and swing will leave him susceptible to pitchers who can bury their secondaries down and away from him.

Joshua Kuroda-Grauer got the push up to High-A after another great week where his advanced feel for hitting made him a terror to Single-A pitchers. He shouldn’t have any trouble with the transition to High-A either given his natural hitting ability, though despite his high contact rates he hasn’t been finding the barrel much. Kuroda-Grauer has been rolling over a lot of pitches to the left side and taking advantage of poor lower-level defenses, though I think he will still end up with enough pop to be a major leaguer given his on base skill. It’s going to be a hard fit in the Athletics system in particular given their middle infield depth, but he should move quickly through the system until pitchers really start to challenge him with breaking balls down more often where he may tend to struggle even more with rolling over pitches.