Top Athletics Prospect Leo De Vries Gets Off to Good Start with New High-A Team

Leo De Vries woke up Thursday a member of the High-A Fort Wayne TinCaps, an affiliate of the San Diego Padres. The 18-year-old will go to sleep as a player for the Lansing Lugnuts, the High-A team of the Athletics.

In between, not a lot changed for the 18-year-old.

De Vries was shipped to the Athletics with three right-handed prospects for pitchers Mason Miller and JP Sears. He remains the No. 3 prospect in baseball, as ranked by MLB Pipeline. He is still his team’s No. 1 prospect, only now the team is the A’s.

And he still can make things happen on the field. He was in the lineup for his new team Thursday night in Lansing, Mich., as the Lugnuts played the Cedar Rapids Kernels (Minnesota Twins affiliate). Inserted as Lansing’s leadoff hitter, De Vries struck out in his first at-bat with the Lugnuts. But with one out and Sahid Valenzuela on first base in the third, the 18-year-old De Vries singled to right.

Valenzuela scored and De Vries took third on a line-drive single by T.J. Schofield-Sam, with De Vries scoring on a Casey Yamauchi line-drive to left.

He finished the game – a 7-4 Cedar Rapids win – 1-for-4.

DeVries was the No. 1 international prospect in when the Padres signed him to a $4.2 million deal on Jan. 15, 2024.

Lugnuts fans already were familiar with just what De Vries can do. On April 22, 2025, De Vries and the TinCaps faced the Lugnuts on their home field. De Vries hit for the cycle – the third in Fort Wayne team history – and was 5-for-5 with two home runs, a sacrifice fly and eight runs driven in.

The De Vries trade made some history, too, when he became one of the highest-ranked prospects to switch teams.

The Athletics will wish for him to make a whole lot more history before his career is done.