A's Promoting Top Prospect Leo De Vries

Earlier this week, A's GM David Forst said that he envisioned promoting top prospect Leo De Vries to Double-A Midland before the end of the season, and after a scalding hot week in Hi-A Lansing, the club is set to make that move a reality. Martín Gallegos is reporting that he's on his way to play with the RockHounds.

De Vries is the A's top prospect, and the No. 3 prospect in all of MLB. Acquired from the San Diego Padres at the MLB Trade Deadline in the deal that sent Mason Miller and JP Sears to the NL West, the 18-year-old took a minute to adjust to his new organization, but has been on fire this week with the Lugnuts.

De Vries went 8-for-21 (.380) with two home runs, two triples, and a double, scoring five runs and recording six RBI. He also walked twice and struck out just once.

On the season, De Vries is batting .249 with a .354 OBP and ten homers. While that may not leap off the page to some fans, the fact that he's just 18 while also holding his own in professional baseball is a big deal. He's the equivalent of a high school senior stateside, and it's hard to imagine there being more than one or two high schoolers that would be able to produce like that if given the chance.

On top of that, he's being promoted to Double-A Midland, which should serve as a launching pad into next season. While the results with the RockHounds will be fun to keep an eye on, his time at the next level will be about getting adjusted to the upper minors heading into the 2026 campaign. That hands-on experience should serve him well heading into the offseason as part of his preparation for '26.

The hope here has to be that he'll hit the ground running next year, given his few weeks of experience in Double-A, which could lead to another fairly quick promotion to Triple-A Las Vegas. That could set the table for a mid-season promotion to the A's roster.

While that may be the hope, it's important to distinguish that this isn't the plan. The plan is to allow him to develop at his own pace, and let him show the team when he's ready for the next challenge.

We should also point out that it's fairly rare for an 18-year-old to make it to Double-A. A total of ten such players have played in the Texas League since 2015, though none have played more than 14 total games in Double-A in the season that they were 18.

There are still 24 games remaining on the RockHounds' schedule in 2025, before their best-of-three playoff series. That means De Vries should be the first 18-year-old since Fernando Tatís Jr. to play more than 14 games in Double-A. That's not bad company.