A's Top Prospect Leo De Vries Shows He'll be Just Fine in First Week in Double-A

The top prospect moved in the A's Mason Miller deal with the San Diego Padres is already in Double-A Midland. Here's how his first week went

Jun 1, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of an Oakland Athletics hat and glove on the field against the Atlanta Braves in the sixth inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Just a couple of weeks after trading Mason Miller and JP Sears to the San Diego Padres for a package centered around MLB's No. 3 prospect, Leo De Vries, the A's promoted their top guy to Double-A Midland, making him one of the few prospects that has reached that level in their age 18 season.

In the past ten years, Fernando Tatís Jr. has played the most games in the Texas League in his age 18 season, and he only made it into 14 of them. De Vries is already at six with three more six-game series to go.

So how did he do in his first week?

Well, he started off 0-for-4 in his first outing, then collected a single hit in three straight games. He followed that up with an 0-for-3 game, but walked twice in that contest, and then went 1-for-4 with two runs and a stolen base on Sunday. It certainly looked as though he settled in more and more as the week went on.

In total, he went 4-for-23 (.174) with a .310 OBP, one double, three runs scored, two RBI, and two stolen bases in three attempts. While the batting average is what people will look at, it's important to remember that he is 18 years old playing in rarified air for someone his age. Plus, it's a pretty small sample size. If he had one more hit, he'd have batted .217 with a .349 OBP.

With that all in mind, the main takeaway that we should all have is that he walked five times and struck out six times. That's a 17.2% walk rate and a 20.7% strikeout rate in his first taste of Double-A. The walk rate is four percent above his rate on the season, while his strikeout rate is right in line with what he's being doing all year long.

Even in a small sample size, drawing five walks while striking out six times is a sign that he's still able to play his game out there, and his game is pretty special. The results on the batted balls haven't been there just yet, but those will come. It's been six games after all.

When he was promoted, we said that paying attention to the stat line isn't going to be terribly helpful in determining how well he's actually doing, and that still holds true. That said, looking at things like his walk rate and strikeout rate could be subtle indicators that can provide a little more detail than a simple batting average or how many home runs he's hit.

The goal with having him in Midland right now is not for him to dominate just yet. What the A's want to do is set him up for 2026, where he will hopefully take off facing the Texas League after getting a taste for what it's all about in the final weeks of this season.

We've seen this a number of times with A's players getting called up to the big leagues, and either taking a minute to adjust on the 26-man roster, or hitting their stride in green and gold after a quick trip down to Triple-A. Sometimes that experience can do wonders and really focus a player on what they need to work on to reach their goals.