2025 MLB Farm Review: Athletics

We’ll start in the California League. The Ports’ 2025 roster included some very notable names, including returnee Myles Naylor, Rodney Green Jr., plus some players drafted this past July by the A’s.

Let’s start with the pitching. Stockton’s roster was littered with past collegiate players, including Samuel Dutton. Dutton, a 10th-round pick after a strong season in Auburn, struck out 13 over 7.2 IP. Tucker Novotny, formerly of the Minnesota Golden Gophers, punched out 97 over 77.2 IP, a team-high.

And Riley Huge, one of the top strikeout pitchers in the NCAA in 2024, thanks to a power knuckle-curve, had 77 strikeouts over 55 innings as a reliever. Huge posted the third-best Whiff% (41.4%) in the California League.

The big standout, though, was 20-year-old Wei-En Lin. We’ll get more into Lin in the next section, as the left-hander struck out 69 over 50 innings and walked just six batters with Stockton. His 33.6% Whiff% ranked in the top-20 among pitchers. It was a strong showing from Lin, who signed with the Athletics in June 2024.

Moving on to the offense, perhaps the two most intriguing hitters on the team were 2025 Draft players: Gavin Turley and Devin Taylor. Both were college standouts, with the latter being considered a potential first-round pick heading into 2025. The Athletics were able to secure Taylor in the second round.

Both provided strong results. Taylor picked up 11 extra-base hits over 28 games, including five home runs. Turley had 12 extra-base hits over 27 games. The two also consistently elevated the baseball, as Taylor (40%) and Turley (38.7%) had high FB% in a small sample size.

Rodney Green Jr., a 2024 fourth-rounder, hit well in Stockton, with six home runs and 15 extra-base hits over 36 games. However, things didn’t go well for Green in the Midwest League (we’ll get more into that later on).

However, the struggle was real yet again for Myles Naylor. Naylor, a former first-round pick and bloodline player who has two brothers in the Majors, has yet to find a groove in the Minors. The 20-year-old spent his second-straight year with Stockton, and it did not go well.

Naylor posted the highest Whiff% (44.7%) in the California League. He slashed .185/.319/.307 in 81 games.

Lansing Lugnuts

Lansing’s rotation consisted of a mix of older, collegiate pitchers, such as Corey Avant & Grant Judkins, as well as well-known prospects like Steven Echavarria, Gage Jump, and, for a brief period, Wei-En Lin.

Echevarria had a tough 2025 season. A third-round pick from the New Jersey prep scene in 2023, Echevarria struck out just 88 batters over 104 innings. A low GB%, below 38%, as well as just a 23% Whiff%. He ranked among the bottom-50 in swings and misses in the Midwest League. Not to mention, he gave 42 free passes over 104 IP.

Jump, a former LSU pitcher who had first-round potential in 2024, “jumped” in terms of asset value. The left-hander struck out 45 over 31 innings and posted one of the highest Whiff% (35.2%) in the Midwest League. He was not long for High-A ball (we’ll get back to him in the next section).

Back to Wei-En Lin for a minute. Lin worked as a piggybacker in Lansing and pitched exceptionally well. Forty strikeouts over 30.1 IP, opposing batters hit just .163 off him, and a 34.6% Whiff% in the Midwest League.

Lin has shown the makings of a fine prospect. The 20-year-old works with a four-pitch mix, including a slider, knuckle-curve, low-to-mid-90s fastball, and a vulcan change that sat around 80 MPH and drops off the strike zone.

Moving to the offense, the Lugnuts had two of the best contact hitters in the circuit. Casey Yamauchi and Joshua Kuroda-Grauer had the two lowest Whiff% in the Midwest League among hitters.

Kuroda-Grauer, taken in the third round out of Rutgers in 2024, isn’t a power hitter whatsoever. His 46.7% GB% was above the league median. However, he’s a slap hitter who can find holes up the infield and go from there. He finished his time in Lansing with a .353 on-base percentage and 26 stolen bases over 80 games.

Speaking of groundballs, “Tommy Tanks” had his fair share in 2025. Tommy White, one of the best NCAA sluggers over the last decade, had a GB% close to 50% in 2025. However, White (20.3% Whiff%) made plenty of contact and led the team in home runs (11).

Ryan Lasko, a 2023 second-round pick and Kuroda-Grauer’s teammate in Piscataway, slashed .241/.359/.339 (.698 OPS) with the Lugnuts. A lot of swing-and-miss (33.3% Whiff%).

Rodney Green Jr. didn’t have a lot of success in High-A. Green Jr. slashed .158/.279/.287 over 83 contests. His 36.7% Whiff% was more concerning, as it ranked as one of the 10 worst in the Midwest League last year.

Midland Rockhounds

When the Athletics traded away Mason Miller to San Diego, the A’s received a massive haul. The package included Braden Nett, Henry Baez, and most notably, Leo De Vries.

De Vries spent most of 2025 in the Midwest League, split between Fort Wayne and Lansing. The 19-year-old didn’t have much left to prove in High-A when the trade, and he only spent two weeks in Michigan before moving to Midland.

The phenom did just fine in Double-A. De Vries slashed .281/.359/.551 with five home runs and 13 extra-base hits over 21 games. Additionally, he posted a sub-20% Whiff% and walked 10 times, juxtaposed to 20 strikeouts.

De Vries was one of several big-name bats to play for the Rockhounds this year.

Junior Perez hit a team-high 14 home runs but only batted .201 on the year. A lot of swing-and-miss, although he raised his profile once he moved to Triple-A.

Brennan Milone hit 12 home runs and 30 extra-base hits across 88 games, enough to earn himself a promotion to Vegas. Milone was a sixth-round pick out of Oregon in the 2022 MLB Draft.

Another player to gloss over is Henry Bolte, a second-round pick by the Athletics from the 2022 MLB Draft. Bolte had a good overall season, one where he went .278/.378/.424 with seven home runs, 25 extra-base hits, and 31 stolen bases with the Rockhounds. However, there was a lot of swing-and-miss (32.9%).

Also, Tommy White and Joshua Kuroda-Grauer hit over .300 after moving to Midland.

The pitching staff included several interesting, high swing-and-miss relievers, including Will Johnston and Micah Dallas. Plus, notable starting pitchers. Braden Nett and Henry Baez, two of the best groundball pitchers in the TL, both worked in Midland after the trade. Luis Morales, who made his MLB debut in 2025, had a strong eight-game run before moving up.

However, perhaps the behemoth in the room is Gage Jump. Jump struck out 86 batters over 81 innings and induced a good amount of ground balls. It’s worth noting that the Whiff% (27.1%) dipped over a longer small size. But among pitchers who induced at least 450 swings from opposing hitters, he still ranked above the league median.

Even in September, Jump’s velocity was impressive. The left-hander consistently held in the 96-97 MPH range, riding that fastball up and getting a ton of late swings-and-miss.

Lastly, Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang struck out 145 over 145.2 IP to earn himself a spot on the 40-man roster.

Las Vegas Aviators

Las Vegas hosted several A’s that wound up being very notable pieces for the big club, most notably Nick Kurtz.

Kurtz blasted seven home runs and 14 extra-base hits in 20 games for the Aviators. He forced his way to the Majors in April and ultimately had a fantastic season in Sacramento to earn himself the AL Rookie of the Year award.

As for other notable standout performances, Carlos Cortes batted .322 with 17 home runs and 41 extra-base hits. He earned himself a call-up to the Majors in July, seven years after he signed out of college with the Mets.

Colby Thomas and Daniel Susac led the team in home runs. Thomas made his MLB debut midseason, while Susac was a Rule 5 Draft pick this past December.

Junior Perez assaulted Pacific Coast League pitching, as he picked up 12 home runs and 27 extra-base hits in 40 games. Perez, who led the PCL in Barrel%, earned a 40-man roster spot.

As for the pitching staff, Gunnar Hoglund, Mason Barnett, Luis Morales, and Jack Cushing navigated the PCL well enough to make their MLB debuts this past year.

Early Projected Top 5 for 2026

1. Leo De Vries
2. Jamie Arnold
3. Gage Jump
4. Devin Taylor
5. Wei-En Lin

Leo De Vries will very likely be the consensus top Athletics prospect heading into 2026. There likely won’t be much debate there at all, given his pedigree and how he’s been able to handle Minor League pitching at such a young age.

After that, Arnold — who looked like a bona fide future ace for much of his time in Florida State — is at #2 with Jump just behind him.

After that, it’s up for debate. We have Taylor and Tommy White, two polished collegiate hitters, plus Wei-En Lin. Taylor has higher upside in our opinion. Other players, like Braden Nett, Henry Baez, Mason Barnett, and Henry Bolte, would be in the conversation if we were to expand this out to 10 players.