A's Top Prospect Appears to Have Taken a Big Step Toward the Majors
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A's top prospect Leo De Vries is also the No. 4 prospect in all of baseball, and in every opportunity he's had since being acquired as the main piece of the Mason Miller trade, the 19-year-old has continued to show that he's a special talent.
The day of the Trade Deadline, he drove the few hours to the A's High-A affiliate that morning and played a game for the Lansing Lugnuts that night. He was then promoted to Double-A Midland a couple of weeks later at the age of 18, which is a fairly rare feat in the Texas League. De Vries then proceeded to hit .281 with a .359 OBP and five homers in his 21 games with the RockHounds.
This spring with the A's, he hit a ridiculous .409 with a .447 OBP, adding three home runs and three stolen bases. One of his outbursts came against the Los Angeles Dodgers, which caused manager Dave Roberts to take notice.
On Sunday, De Vries was reassigned to minor-league camp along with fellow top prospects Gage Jump, Henry Bolte and Tommy White, though the team that each was being assigned to wasn't disclosed, since they're not on the 40-man roster just yet.
On Monday, we may have received confirmation of De Vries' assignment for the start of the 2026 campaign.
Where De Vries looks to be starting 2026
Making his appearance in the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators' media guide is none other than De Vries. This in itself doesn't necessarily confirm that it'll be his starting spot, but the fact that he's in there suggests that he's expected to spend some time in Sin City before long.
When we asked A's GM David Forst about where De Vries would be starting the season in 2026, he said, "we'll probably wait and see how Spring Training goes. He only has 100 or so plate appearances at Double-A, so we'll sort of gauge his readiness in camp when we get our hands on him." Based off his performance in camp, a Triple-A assignment would make sense.
Also listed in the media guide are White, Bolte and Jump, with two of those three players also not making their Triple-A debuts just yet. Bolte got in 34 games with the Aviators last season. This would seem to confirm that this entire group will be joining the Aviators to begin 2026.
Here is the full listed roster, per the Aviators' guide:
Pitchers (18): Nick Anderson, Henry Baez, Mason Barnett, Blake Beers, Ben Bowden, JJ Goss, Geoff Hartlieb, Nick Hernandez, Gunnar Hoglund, Joel Kuhnel, Gage Jump, Brooks Kriske, Matt Krook, Yunior Tur, Kade Morris, Braden Nett, Gustavo Rodriguez and Wander Suero.
Oddly, not listed among the pitchers is Brady Basso, who was optioned to Triple-A last week when he was taken off the spring roster.
Position players (15): Henry Bolte (OF), Cooper Bowman (UTL), Leo De Vries (INF), Joshua Kuroda-Grauer (INF), Ryan Lasko (OF), Cade Marlowe (OF), Bryan Lavastida (C), Shane McGuire (C), Joey Meneses (INF), Junior Perez (OF), Brian Serven (C), Michael Stefanic (INF), Drew Swift (INF), Chad Wallach (C) and Tommy White (INF).
One last takeaway here is that De Vries is listed as an infielder, despite playing all but five games at shortstop in his pro career. Those five games were logged at second base in the Arizona Fall League back in 2024. That could mean that they're going to play him around the diamond, perhaps at second and third, to see what options they have when he ultimately arrives in Sacramento.
Then again, every player is listed broadly on the position player side of things, so maybe it doesn't mean anything. With Nick Kurtz waiting in the wings last season, the A's didn't look to get Tyler Soderstrom any work in the outfield before he was playing games in left. The hope is that they'll get De Vries some time around the diamond, however, to provide the club more flexibility when he arrives.
If he's starting in Triple-A, that could really expedite his path to the big leagues, too.
For more A's news and insights, follow Jason @ByJasonB on X, or the site @InsideTheAs!
Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.
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