Mark Kotsay Leaves the Door Wide Open For a Leo De Vries Debut in 2026

A's top prospect Leo De Vries has been stealing headlines since he was traded from the San Diego Padres to the Athletics last trade deadline in the deal that shifted Mason Miller and JP Sears to Southern California.

At the age of 18, De Vries made his Double-A debut, joining a small group of elite prospects over the past decade to achieve that feat. But he didn't just get the call up to Midland, he also excelled with the RockHounds. In 21 games, he went 25-for-89 (.281) with a .359 OBP and a .910 OPS, which included five home runs, 16 RBI and a pair of steals.

This spring, he's getting some looks in camp, and has even received starts in two of the past three games for the A's. That just shows that the club is going to test him, and is very open to him pushing his way up to the big leagues in the near future. So far this spring he's 5-for-14 (.357) with a walk, two strikeouts, a run scored, a stolen base and a caught stealing.

While the initial stat line is terrific, we should also point out that according to Baseball-Reference, he's been facing roughly Double-A pitching on average. That could be why he's been getting these recent starts, to test him against big-league arms to better gauge where he's at entering the 2026 season.

Mark Kotsay on De Vries potentially making his debut in 2026

In MLB Network's 30 clubs, 30 camps series, they visited A's camp in Mesa, Arizona to begin the week, and when they got hold of manager Mark Kotsay, the first question they asked him is if there is a chance that De Vries, now 19, could be in the big leagues at some point in 2026.

"I mean, I didn't think there was a chance that Nick Kurtz would be in the big leagues after 17 days of a season. He was supposed to spend some time in Triple-A. I'm not gonna say no, for sure. I think everything's on the table. I've been really impressed with his actions in spring training. It's the first real look I've had at Leo."

Kotsay also went on to add a little bit to the myth that is Leo De Vries, who famously showed up and played in a game with the A's High-A affiliate the day that he was traded to the A's last summer, going 1-for-4 with a completely new team. After a talk with A's GM David Forst that morning, he hopped in his car and drove from Fort Wayne, Indiana to Lansing, Michigan, roughly a two hour drive.

"When you mentioned physicality, I think there's more physicality just in the short offseason that he was able to go home and really train. One of the great things about this kid, he called the A's and said, 'hey can you guys send me a pitching machine? I just wanna work.' He's a kid that's getting after it."

When your favorite team has a player like De Vries, who is ranked among the top-5 prospects in the game, that can be a reward in itself. But these stories about his work ethic have to be exciting for the fan base, as he could potentially blow the doors off in Triple-A and earn a look in Sacramento before long in 2026.

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