Green and Gold Futures Prospect Weekly: De Vries Runs Hot at Double-A, Taylor's Bat Won't Quit
By Ethan Price ·
The Switch Hits Different: Leo De Vries Owns Double-A
Leo De Vries (AA, SS, Rank: 1) has been the best hitter in the Athletics system over the past month, and this week made that case louder than ever. He went 9-for-27 with 3 doubles, a triple, a home run, and 5 RBI while drawing 3 walks and punching out just 4 times. Over his last 30 days, he's slashing .358/.450/.597 with 3 home runs and 16 RBI in 80 plate appearances, putting a firm stamp on his status as the top prospect in the organization. The contact, the walk rate, the extra-base pop: all of it is clicking at once, and Double-A pitchers are running out of ways to retire him.
What makes De Vries genuinely interesting is the breadth of tools contributing. He's a switch-hitter with above-average athleticism and speed, and his feel for the zone has always been the carrying skill. On the season he's posting a .293/.384/.460 line with 13 home runs and 33 stolen bases through 406 plate appearances at Double-A as a 19-year-old, numbers that would turn heads for a player three years his senior. The power projection sits at average rather than plus, and there are still legitimate questions about whether his footwork at shortstop is clean enough for him to stick there long-term. But when the bat is producing at this clip against Double-A arms, those concerns feel secondary. A Triple-A assignment before the calendar flips to 2027 looks like a formality at this point.
Devin Taylor Has No Interest in Slowing Down
Devin Taylor (AA, OF, Rank: 4) put together one of the more eye-catching weeks among position players in the system, going 11-for-28 with 3 doubles, 6 RBI, and 2 walks across his Double-A appearances. He didn't add a home run to the ledger, but with 10 extra-base hits over 23 games in his last-30-day window and a .347/.411/.500 slash in that span, the power is still showing up in the form of hard contact to the gaps. Taylor combines a plus power grade with a 55 hit tool, and right now both are working in concert. The 22-year-old left fielder has accumulated 16 home runs and 84 RBI across both levels this season in 475 plate appearances, which represents a significant jump from his brief 2025 look at Single-A.
The full-season line reads .319/.417/.500 and tells the story of a bat-first corner outfielder who has handled every assignment the organization has thrown at him. His speed and arm profile him firmly in left field, so the bat has to carry the load, and it has done just that. The real test comes when he faces Triple-A spin and velocity, where quality breaking balls away will probe the one genuine swing-and-miss vulnerability in his game. He's shown enough zone recognition to suggest he won't be overwhelmed, but strikeout rates against upper-level arms will tell us whether the 55 hit tool grades out right or needs to be revisited. For now, Taylor is operating as one of the most productive bats in the system at any level, and a promotion to Triple-A looks imminent.
Quick Hits
- Jamie Arnold (AA, LHP, Rank: 2) · delivered the best pitching performance of the week: 10.1 innings, 8 hits, 3 earned runs, 4 walks, and 15 strikeouts. Over his last five starts he's been genuinely excellent, posting a 2.18 ERA across 20.2 innings with 24 punchouts. Arnold owns a 60-grade fastball sitting 93-95 and a 65-grade slider that is a legitimate swing-and-miss weapon, and when his command is on, that combination looks like a mid-rotation starter rather than a backend arm. The season ERA sits at 3.84 through 96 innings, and the walk rate (45 free passes) is the one thing standing between him and a more aggressive timeline. Nights like this week's outing showcase his potential.
- Edgar Montero (A, SS, Rank: 17) · was the most productive hitter in the system by performance index this week, collecting 6 hits in 22 plate appearances with 3 home runs and 4 RBI while walking 3 times. He's a switch-hitter with a fluid swing and plus bat speed from both sides, and his last 30 days show a .481 slugging mark in 93 plate appearances with 5 home runs. The full-season on-base percentage of .353 reflects the advanced zone discipline he's always shown. Power development was always the key variable for the 19-year-old, and those three home runs this week suggest he's starting to answer the question.
- Gavin Turley (A, OF, Rank: 20) · went 8-for-17 in the week without an extra-base hit, but that's less alarming in context: he's slashing .328/.444/.500 over his last 17 games at Single-A Stockton, with 3 home runs and 12 RBI in that stretch. The hit tool grades at 40 and the power at 60, so weeks where the contact rate climbs and the raw pop translates are what he needs. His season OBP sits at .350 despite a modest batting average, a sign that he's drawing walks at a workable rate. The swing still has length and can be exploited by premium velocity, but this recent stretch is genuine progress.
- Shotaro Morii (A, SS, Rank: 16) · collected 3 hits in 16 plate appearances with a triple, a home run, and 3 walks. He's posting a .379 OBP over his last 30 days at Single-A despite a .231 average in that stretch, which tracks with his profile as a left-handed hitter with a 60-grade arm and an advanced walk rate. The pitching experiment has not gone well (a 14.66 ERA across 11.2 innings at Single-A), and the organization will likely resolve the two-way question toward the hitting side in the near future. I'd take the over on him developing into more than a utility profile if the bat keeps showing this kind of discipline.
- Drew Burress (A, OF, Rank: 3) · was promoted from the ACL to Single-A Stockton on August 3 in his first assignment to full-season ball. No stats yet to evaluate, but the move comes early enough in the season for him to get real reps against full-season pitching before the calendar runs out.
- Breyson Guedez (A+, OF, Rank: 13) · jumped from Single-A Stockton to High-A Lansing on August 3. Worth tracking how he adjusts; High-A arms will give us a cleaner read on his offensive ceiling than the Single-A sample provided.
- Roman Martin (A, SS, Rank: 28) · was promoted from the ACL to Single-A Stockton on August 3 and went 5-for-10 in his first two games. He's a contact-oriented shortstop with a 60-grade arm and above-average infield actions, and that early-returns line is a nice introduction. The power grades below average at present, so the hit tool and on-base skills will carry the profile early.
- Darwing Ozuna (RK, OF, Rank: 34) · drove in 3 on 4 hits, including a home run, in 16 plate appearances. The 18-year-old has turned in a strong complex-league season, slashing .356/.427/.479 over his last 20 games with a manageable 12 strikeouts in 82 plate appearances. The hit tool and field grades are both 45, and his carrying tool is a 65-grade arm suited for right field. This is a longer runway, but the contact improvement over his 2025 DSL line is real and notable.
- Nate Nankil (A, OF, Rank: 24) · went 7-for-28 with 3 doubles, a homer, and 6 RBI. His last 30 days at Single-A Stockton show a .260/.367/.377 line in 90 plate appearances, and the combined season slash of .225/.339/.328 across both levels remains below the threshold needed to push a 23-year-old outfielder up the ladder in a hurry. The above-average arm and playable corner defense keep him viable, but the bat needs to sustain what this week hinted at.