Former New York Mets Prospect Named a Notable Riser in First Half

The Athletics are certainly in need of some upgrades to their pitching staff, with the club holding a 5.32 ERA as a staff, which ranks No. 29 in all of baseball, ahead of just the Colorado Rockies. One former New York Mets pitcher, Luis Severino, was expected to help with that group, but he's had a hard time pitching in the minor-league ballpark in West Sacramento and holds a 5.30 ERA on the year.

Yet, there is another former Mets player with the Athletics' Triple-A affiliate that could be able to provide a boost some time in the second half. 23-year-old righty Kade Morris was acquired by the A's in the Paul Blackburn deal last July, and this season he has rocketed past Double-A and up to Las Vegas, where he is knocking on the door for a promotion.

In a recent post from Baseball America, they listed the top risers and fallers among the prospect ranks this season, and Morris was among the 11 players that received a write-up, and one of just six pitchers that were mentioned.

Between Midland and Las Vegas, Morris has racked up a 3.65 ERA in 91 1/3 innings, which has led to him being the A's No. 8 prospect in Baseball America's recent re-ranking of the system. Those numbers have ticked up a touch in Triple-A, where he holds a 4.76 ERA with a 1.44 WHIP and has allowed eight home runs in just 39 2/3 innings.

In his most recent outing on Sunday, Baseball Savant tagged him with six different pitch types, including a sinker, slider, sweeper, four-seamer, curveball, and changeup. The first three were his primary pitches, while the second group of three were thrown a couple of times each.

His sinker touched 96 and sat at 94, but it was his slider that was his most effective offering. He threw 29 of them, good for 32% of his pitches that day, and five of the 13 that were offered at were whiffed on (38% whiff rate).

Of the ones where the batter made contact, six of them landed in foul territory, while the other two left the bat at 66.2 and 64.4 miles per hour. Swing and miss stuff with weak contact is a pitcher's dream.

The ceiling may not be that of an ace for a rotation, but whenever a pitcher comes around the A's system where weak contact is their calling card, images of Chris Bassitt come to mind. He never had the best "stuff" in the A's rotation, but he was the ace of the staff because he'd give the club six innings without much damage against him each and every start.

If Morris were to turn into a version of Bassitt, the Athletics would be thrilled. The one potential hangup right now, based off this one outing at least, is that Morris wasn't landing the slider in the zone terribly often. Against Oklahoma City he was at a 38% zone rate and that rate sat at 43% overall.

He was able to land his sweeper in the strike zone 61% of the time, which is great, but when he's having trouble locating his other five pitches, then batters are able to sit back and wait on the one he can spot a little better once he falls behind in the count. In fairness to Morris, this was his third time facing OKC in seven starts at the Triple-A level, including the second time last week.

In his start on July 1, Morris was much more in the zone (59% overall), and it was his sweeper that was getting the Comets' bats to swing outside of the zone at a 43% clip, which is impressive. Putting all of that together will be what gets him to the big leagues.

Depending on how the Trade Deadline shakes out and what injuries crop up, the A's may look to give Morris a shot at the big-league level down the stretch to set him up as an option in the rotation for next season.