Former San Diego Padres Prospect Proving to be a 'Dude' for A's

It's hard to say that the San Diego Padres are regretting the Mason Miller trade by any means, given that the right-hander has a 0.86 ERA across 21 innings since being acquired. Yet, the A's have to be plenty happy with the key piece of the return for Miller, Leo De Vries.

De Vries is now the A's top prospect, and the No. 3 prospect in MLB according to MLB Pipeline. The A's have also promoted him to Double-A already, which is incredibly impressive given that he's still just 18 years old. Not many prospects get to that level at that age, and in the month of September, he's been hitting the cover off the ball.

In the two series to finish out the regular season, De Vries ended up going 18-for-47 (.383) with a .420 OBP and a 1.271 OPS. That included five home runs, 13 RBI, and just nine strikeouts across 50 plate appearances.

Leo De Vries is on fire in September

He's continued that hot hitting into the postseason, going 5-for-8 with a home run and three RBI in Midland's two-game sweep of Amarillo last week.

De Vries followed that up with a two homer game in the opening matchup with the Springfield Cardinals in the Texas League Championship on Sunday. The shortstop ended up going 2-for-4 with two homers and a walk, three RBI and three runs scored.

In three postseason games, De Vries nearly has an OPS that begins with a two, which is unheard of. It currently sits at 1.976. His first homer came in the top of the first as the second batter of the game, a solo shot off starter Pete Hansen. His second was also a go-ahead shot, this time a two-run homer that took the score from 3-2 to 4-3 in the seventh.

One win from the title

The RockHounds didn't look back at that point, adding two more runs in the top of the eighth. With two outs to begin the frame, leadoff hitter Joshua Kuroda-Grauer doubled, followed by walks to De Vries and Brennan Milone to load the bases.

Tommy White stepped up at that point, and reached on a throwing error from the Cardinal second baseman, which scored both runs for Midland in the inning.

After an off-day on Monday, the clubs will be back at it on Tuesday in Midland with first pitch scheduled for 4:30 p.m. (PT). Springfield will be tossing out Ixan Henderson, a tough left-hander that ranks as the No. 15 prospect in the St. Louis system.

Midland has not yet announced who will be starting for them, though the likely answer will be Gage Jump, who has been starting for the RockHounds on Tuesdays of late, and would be a big arm that they could use to try to end the series in two games.

If there is a Game 3, it will be in Midland on Wednesday.