Top Athletics Prospects Who Could Contribute in 2026

As they did with both Samuel Zavala and Ethan Salas, the Padres aggressively assigned De Vries to their Single-A affiliate as a 17-year-old to begin 2024, where he posted historic numbers for his age.

His 116 wRC+ was the second-highest for a player his age at Single-A since 2006, trailing only Jose Tabata (min. 350 PA).

Last year, he recorded a 120 wRC+ between the Padres’ and Athletics’ High-A affiliates before earning a promotion to Double-A in August, where he logged a 144 wRC+ in 103 PAs.

This is also his likely starting destination for 2026, and if he continues mashing, a 2026 MLB debut is entirely in play for the 19-year-old.

De Vries would be just the 10th teenage position player this century to get reps for his big league team. Looking under the hood, it’s not difficult to see why this could soon be a reality.

Between High-A and Double-A in 2025, De Vries posted a 78.6% contact, suggesting a Z-contact% in the low-80s. While his 34% HardHit% doesn’t stand out, his projectable 6-foot-1 frame and young age suggest he’ll eventually develop more power.

His advanced feel for going pull-side with fly balls suggests he should be a 20+ home run threat at minimum, regardless of how much raw power he taps into.

De Vries also shines as an athlete and could very well be a perennial 20/20 candidate throughout his team control days. It also gives him precocious range at the six, which, combined with his plus arm strength, gives him a compelling case to stay up the middle long-term.

His current 50th-percentile outcome is an All-Star-caliber player throughout his first six years of team control (3.0 WAR average per season) who could quickly become one of baseball’s best shortstops.

Gage Jump

Gage Jump battled inconsistent command and elbow issues early in his college career at UCLA, and missed the entirety of his sophomore year due to Tommy John surgery before transferring to LSU for his junior year.

He finally put it all together at Baton Rouge, where he combined his ability to induce whiffs with much-improved command in a starter’s bulk of frames (83 IP).

These improvements allowed him to be selected by the Athletics in the Competitive Balance Round B portion of the 2024 MLB Draft, receiving a $2 million signing bonus in the process.

Jump was assigned to High-A to begin 2025, where he torched opposing bats to the tune of a 37.1% K% in 31 IP. He was then bumped to Double-A, where he still struck out 25.3% of hitters through 81.2 IP.

Eclipsing the 100 IP mark is a large part of why Jump is now a consensus top-100 prospect in the sport, showing improved stamina while maintaining his bat-missing ability and command.

He’s likely to begin 2026 at Triple-A and should get plenty of run in Sacramento this season, barring any setbacks.

Jump’s heater is his calling card, sitting 94-95 MPH and getting 15 inches of induced vertical break from a 5.7-foot slot.

He also features a mid-80s slider that gets 8 inches of gloveside movement, good for a 15-inch horizontal offset from the heater, as well as a 12 MPH velocity offset.

Occasionally, Jump will mix in a changeup that sits in the high-80s and generates about nine inches and 8 MPH of offset from the fastball.

He has quelled all command issues stemming from his college days, limiting his BB% to just 7.4% this season between the two levels. His arsenal as a whole will be tested this season at Triple-A as he transitions to the MLB ball for the first time.

Jump’s current 50th-percentile outcome is a mid-rotation starter throughout his first six years of team control (3.0 WAR average per season). He should be a staple in the A’s rotation for the next half-decade or longer.

Braden Nett

Braden Nett‘s path to professional baseball is certainly one that warms the heart. He was working at Home Depot after dropping out of St. Charles Community College when the San Diego Padres took a chance on his raw ability and signed him after the 2022 MLB Draft.

Nett got his kicks at the Padres’ complex level in 2022, throwing just three frames before being reassigned to the level in 2023.

After battling shoulder and elbow injuries for two years, he finally climbed his way to Double-A in 2024, pitching all of 2025 at the level. Braden put together his first 100 IP season, hurling 105.2 frames and fanning 24.8% of batters.

With De Vries, Nett headed north to the state capital as part of the Miller/Sears deal. He’ll likely begin 2026 at Triple-A and will have a chance for a promotion this season.

His fastball is his signature offering, sitting 96-97 MPH and topping out at 98. It generates about 13 inches of IVB from a 5.75-foot vertical release point.

Nett complements the heater with a mid-80s slurvey curveball, which generates seven inches of gloveside movement, for a total of 13 inches of horizontal offset from the fastball.

He’s also gotten in on the kick-change trend, throwing it in the high-80s and giving him another offering to attack lefties with.

Maintaining command deeper into starts will be Braden’s biggest swing factor going into 2026. Walk rates consistently over 10% leave doubt over whether or not he could stick in a big league rotation. Regardless, he throws hard enough and flashes enough secondary potential to succeed as a reliever.

Nett’s current 50th-percentile outcome is as a back-end rotation starter or long reliever for a championship-caliber team over his first six years of team control (1.0-1.5 WAR per season).

Henry Bolte

Henry Bolte is a right-handed-hitting toolshed who’s one of the team’s more talented players in the minor leagues. The Athletics chose him in the second round of the 2022 MLB Draft, writing a $2 million check to the Bay Area native and luring him away from his Texas commitment.

Despite glaring bat-to-ball issues, he’s never run a sub league-average wRC+ at any level as a professional at which he’s had triple-digit plate appearances. He had a 121 wRC+ between Double-A and Triple-A this past year, and could be knocking on the door of the big leagues soon.

Bolte’s offensive game is extremely raw but promising. He ran an 81.2% Z-Contact% at Triple-A last season, a sign of life, but struggled heavily to elevate his batted balls, with just a 28.8% SweetSpot% and a 4.1% AirPull%.

The latter two were in the bottom 5% at the level last year, so making improvements in these departments will allow for his raw power to translate more in-game.

Despite these issues, Henry has a solid eye at the dish, registering just a 24.2% chase%, but a mere 64.6% Z-Swing%. He does a great job of spitting on breaking balls and off-speed offerings out of the zone, but could be more aggressive with hittable pitches in the zone.

Henry’s claim to fame on offense is his power. As previously explained, he needs to improve his barrel accuracy to fully capitalize on this juice, but his 43.8% HardHit% at Triple-A still ranked in the 71st percentile league-wide.

Bolte’s 111.6 max EV is also above league average, which, along with his plate discipline, helps explain why he’s still had offensive success despite poor barrel accuracy. Overall, it’s these traits that give him a high ceiling if he can put it all together.

Bolte is an athletic marvel and one of the fastest players in the minor leagues. He stole 40 bases last year in 114 games, and has the makings of a 20-20 guy if his offensive game matures enough.

The speed doesn’t quite translate on defense just yet, as his reactions and route efficiency haven’t been the best, but he deserves every opportunity to continue patrolling the eight at Triple-A, as his athleticism can make up for the lack of natural feel for the position.

His current 50th-percentile outcome is a platoon hitting fourth outfielder on a contender throughout his first six years of team control (1.0-1.5 WAR average per season), but he is a swing overhaul from being a top-100 caliber prospect.

Kade Morris

Former Nevada Wolfpack standout Kade Morris is a pitchability, command/control guy who will throw six different MLB-caliber offerings, with at least four or five of them being at or near average stuff-wise.

He was drafted by the New York Mets in the third round of the 2023 MLB Draft, and was acquired by the Athletics in the 2024 Paul Blackburn trade.

In each of his past two seasons, Morris has logged at least 136 IP or more, and while the run suppression hasn’t been great (4.50 ERA in 2025), his deep arsenal gives him plenty of projection looking forward.

The key to Morris’ arsenal is his outlier low release points, and his lack of either pronation or supination bias. His ability to alter his wrist angle with ease gives him a lot of horizontal movement and improves his sequencing as a pitcher.

His sinker, which was his most used pitch in 2025, will sit 94-95 MPH and generate 15 inches of armside run from a 4.7-foot vertical release point. His 6.4 feet of extension makes it play a little faster than a mid-90s sinker.

Similarly, his fastball also sits in the mid-90s, generating 12 inches of armside run from a 5.1-foot vertical release, giving him another armside pitch with some vertical offset from the sinker.

Kade’s gyro slider sits 87-88 MPH, and while it’s not a true bullet shape, it gets five inches of IVB and two inches of gloveside movement. Overall, it gives him a nice middle point in his diverse pitch plot.

His sweeper will sit 80-81 MPH and generate 13 inches of gloveside movement. It only gets two inches of rise, but because his curveball gets so much drop, they play well off one another, so it doesn’t matter as much if he doesn’t have a true north-west offering on his pitch plot.

As aforementioned, his hammer will sit at 77-78 MPH and generate 10 inches of drop. It’s more of a slurvey pitch with 13 inches of gloveside movement, but tunnels well off of the fastball as it’s a near-perfect spin mirror from the heater.

Finally, Morris’s copycat changeup doesn’t differ much from the sinker from a movement perspective, but does provide some value sitting in the high-80s and generating 7 MPH of velocity offset from the sinker. It was the only pitch he didn’t throw more than 100 times during his time at Triple-A in 2025.

Without a stellar fastball or a wipeout secondary, Kade’s command will ultimately be his key to success as a big leaguer. He’s done that as a professional so far, with a 7.5 BB% in 2025 across both Double-A and Triple-A.

This, combined with the wide perimeter of his pitch plot, gives him the ingredients of a solid big-league starter.

Morris’ current 50th-percentile outcome is as a back-end rotation starter or long reliever, with a championship-caliber team, over his first six years of team control (1.0-1.5 WAR per season).

Other Names To Consider

Gunnar Hoglund

Hoglund was initially drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2021, but never pitched for the organization, instead being a key part of the A’s return in the Matt Chapman trade.

The ace of the Ole Miss staff in 2021, Hoglund missed a large chunk of the 2021 and 2022 seasons after succumbing to Tommy John surgery.

After registering a 26.1 K% at Triple-A in 2025, he was promoted to the Athletics, where he made six starts, and looks to get a larger look with the big league club in 2026.

There are likely better names who will eventually surpass him on the starting pitching depth chart, but he could still find a role as a long reliever or a fastball-changeup heavy specialist.

Henry Baez

Baez was another fun piece coming back in the Miller/Sears trade. He’s a tall, projectible righty who is more of a command/control arm than a guy with true swing-and-miss stuff, though his fastball will sit in the mid-90s and his gyro slider is a plus pitch when he finishes it with conviction.

He spent the entirety of 2025 at Double-A, where he logged 109 IP and had a 2.39 ERA, surrendering just three round-trippers all season.

The 23-year-old will likely need some seasoning at Triple-A before he makes his MLB debut, and the A’s shared this sentiment when they optioned him to the minors on March 1. Still, Henry looks poised to be part of the Athletics’ plans in the near and long-term future.

Mason Barnett

An unintended theme of this article was covering the Athletics’ prospects who were acquired via trades. Barnett is no different, as he was brought into the organization in 2024 as part of the Lucas Erceg deadline deal.

Barnett’s pitch plot boasts a wide perimeter, with an attack option in each of the four quadrants. His fastball will sit 94-95 MPH, with a devastating hammer curveball that gets 16 inches of drop, good for 30 inches of vertical offset from the heater.

He made his MLB debut in 2025 but struggled mightily in 22.1 IP with a 6.85 ERA. This, combined with the congestion of starting pitching options in Sacramento, points to Barnett needing additional development time at Triple-A. However, his arsenal is nasty, and he should figure into the Athletics’ future in some capacity.

Outlook

Going into 2026, the Athletics’ farm system sits towards the middle of the pack (tier 3-4), with an intriguing mix of upside and organizational depth.

The foundational pieces of their lineup are already there, with plenty of names who will continue to supplement the roster reconstruction over the next couple of seasons.

Excellent draft strategy, aggressive international scouting, and trades of established big leaguers have brought in intriguing prospects with true developmental upside.

General manager David Forst and the front office deserve credit for steadily rebuilding the talent pipeline while navigating the challenges stemming from the franchise’s infamous departure from Oakland.

While the A’s may still be a few years away from sustained contention, the next wave of young talent is beginning to arrive, giving their new fans in the Sin City plenty to root for as the franchise builds toward its next competitive window.