Down On The Farm: A's Draft Class Takes Off in Vermont & Arizona

Well, it's that time of the year when team's start to get a good look at their top draft picks from the amateur draft. For the A's, most of their top college picks start the season with Vermont, while the high school kids and the lower-level college picks start their seasons in Arizona. But so far, it's been one of last year's top picks, outfielder B.J. Boyd, who's been making the biggest in impression at Vermont, while the A's 27^th-round pick this year, first baseman Ryan Huck, has been the biggest hitting star down in the desert. You can get daily updates on all the A's minor league teams and top prospects on my Athletics Farm blog and lots more details on the last week of A's minor league action right here on Athletics Nation...

SACRAMENTO RIVER CATS

(Triple-A Pacific Coast League)

Record This Week: 2-4

Record This Season: 44-39

The River Cats' offense has slowed a bit of late, and it didn't help matters much when the team's best hitter, catcher Stephen Vogt, was called up to Oakland and he was replaced on the roster by light-hitting receiver Ryan Ortiz. The guys who've been carrying much of the load in the lineup lately have been old stalwarts Daric Barton and Michael Taylor. But the hottest hitter in Sacramento these days is newly-minted second baseman Grant Green, who now leads the River Cats in hits, runs, doubles and total bases. RHP Sonny Gray continues to lead Sacramento's starting staff with a 3.02 ERA and 98 strikeouts in 95 1/3 innings, while RHP Evan Scribner has been dominant out of the bullpen, allowing just 5 runs and striking out 28 in 24 innings of relief.

Top Cats:

1B Daric Barton (5 HR / 57 BB / 29 K / .284 AVG / .439 OBP / .442 SLG / .881 OPS)

OF Michael Taylor (9 HR / 19 BB / 46 K / .319 AVG / .384 OBP / .527 SLG / .910 OPS)

2B Grant Green (11 HR / 26 BB / 61 K / .322 AVG / .380 OBP / .512 SLG / .892 OPS)

RHP Sonny Gray (95 1/3 IP / 91 H / 32 ER / 32 BB / 98 K / 3.02 ERA / 1.29 WHIP)

RHP Bruce Billings (83 2/3 IP / 80 H / 40 ER / 31 BB / 81 K / 4.30 ERA / 1.33 WHIP)

RHP Evan Scribner (24 IP / 15 H / 5 ER / 6 BB / 28 K / 1.88 ERA / 0.88 WHIP)

MIDLAND ROCKHOUNDS

(Double-A Texas League)

Record This Week: 1-4

Record This Season: 38-43

The RockHounds pitching staff has really been having a hard time of it lately, but the team has gotten a bit of a boost with the addition of RHP Drew Granier, who leads all A's minor leaguers in strikeouts with 104. And in his first two starts with Midland, Granier has allowed 3 runs in 12 innings of work and won one and lost one. Meanwhile, RHPs Gary Daley and Mike DeMark have really been struggling out of the bullpen for the Hounds. On the other side of things, first baseman Anthony Aliotti continues to lead all A's minor leaguers in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, and outfielder Jake Goebbert now trails only Stockton's Max Muncy in home runs amongst A's minor leaguers.

Top Hounds:

1B Anthony Aliotti (10 HR / 60 BB / 71 K / .356 AVG / .463 OBP / .547 SLG / 1.010 OPS)

OF Conner Crumbliss (5 HR / 29 BB / 19 K / .282 AVG / .396 OBP / .494 SLG / .889 OPS)

OF Jake Goebbert (13 HR / 34 BB / 62 K / .283 AVG / .366 OBP / .490 SLG / .856 OPS)

3B Tyler Ladendorf (3 HR / 9 BB / 21 K / .280 AVG / .350 OBP / .458 SLG / .808 OPS)

RHP Murphy Smith (95 2/3 IP / 96 H / 34 ER / 25 BB / 57 K / 3.20 ERA / 1.26 WHIP)

LHP Frank Gailey (34 1/3 IP / 29 H / 6 ER / 6 BB / 29 K / 1.57 ERA / 1.02 WHIP)

STOCKTON PORTS

(High-A California League)

Record This Week: 3-4

Record This Season: 42-39

Ports first baseman Max Muncy continues to lead all A's minor leaguers in home runs with 20, while shortstop Addison Russell continues to rise as the season unfolds, and he's now second on the team in runs, walks, doubles, total bases and stolen bases, and first in triples with 7. Catcher Bruce Maxwell recently joined the team from Beloit and is currently 4 for his first 16. The Ports' pitching staff lost its top starter when RHP Drew Granier was promoted to Midland, but RHP Tanner Peters has been doing his best to pick up the slack. Peters had a perfect game going for 6 1/3 innings on Thursday, and is currently tied with new teammate Raul Alcantara for the best WHIP amongst all A's minor league starters. Stockton's starting staff should be getting a bit of a boost when top pitching prospect Michael Ynoa joins the Ports' rotation this week.

Top Ports:

1B Max Muncy (20 HR / 55 BB / 54 K / .297 AVG / .409 OBP / .533 SLG / .941 OPS)

SS Addison Russell (9 HR / 29 BB / 76 K / .254 AVG / .330 OBP / .481 SLG / .811 OPS)

OF Bobby Crocker (8 HR / 12 BB / 87 K / .263 AVG / .316 OBP / .459 SLG / .775 OPS)

RHP Tanner Peters (95 1/3 IP / 96 H / 43 ER / 17 BB / 85 K / 4.06 ERA / 1.19 WHIP)

RHP James Simmons (51 1/3 IP / 49 H / 20 ER / 9 BB / 38 K / 3.51 ERA / 1.13 WHIP)

RHP Seth Frankoff (45 1/3 IP / 28 H / 12 ER / 14 BB / 53 K / 2.38 ERA / 0.93 WHIP)

BELOIT SNAPPERS

(Class-A Midwest League)

Record This Week: 5-1

Record This Season: 51-29

Second baseman Chris Bostick has really been leading the Snappers' lineup lately. His batting average just recently crossed the .300 mark and he currently leads all Snappers' regulars in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. The team lost its hot-hitting catcher, Bruce Maxwell, when he was promoted to Stockton, and outfielder Aaron Shipman has recently returned to the roster. Beloit will also be losing top pitching prospect Michael Ynoa to Stockton. But RHP Dakota Bacus has really been coming on strong of late, and he's now notched 58 strikeouts in 65 innings of work, while RHP Seth Streich leads the team in striekouts with 66 and just posted his 9^th win on Sunday.

Top Snappers:

2B Chris Bostick (10 HR / 33 BB / 62 K / .303 AVG / .379 OBP / .498 SLG / .877 OPS)

OF Ryan Mathews (8 HR / 31 BB / 55 K / .259 AVG / .356 OBP / .454 SLG / .810 OPS)

OF John Wooten (12 HR / 30 BB / 61 K / .274 AVG / .347 OBP / .446 SLG / .793 OPS)

RHP Michael Ynoa (54 2/3 IP / 45 H / 13 ER / 18 BB / 48 K / 2.14 ERA / 1.15 WHIP)

RHP Vince Voiro (61 2/3 IP / 67 H / 21 ER / 21 BB / 47 K / 3.06 ERA / 1.43 WHIP)

RHP Dakota Bacus (65 IP / 71 H / 25 ER / 18 BB / 58 K / 3.46 ERA / 1.37 WHIP)

VERMONT LAKE MONSTERS

(Class-A Short-Season New York-Penn League)

Record This Week: 2-4

Record This Season: 5-8

The Vermont Lake Monsters began play in the New York-Penn League two weeks ago. In addition to a number of last year's draft picks like B.J. Boyd and Melvin Mercedes, the team also boasts a bunch of the A's top college picks from this year's draft, including infielder Chad Pinder, outfielders Tyler Marincov and Jaycob Brugman, and pitchers Dylan Covey, Kyle Finnegan, Matt Stalcup, Jerad Grundy and Lou Trivino. After biding his time in extended spring training, Boyd has really gotten off to a hot start with the bat, hitting .396 with 5 doubles in his first 13 games. Meanwhile, LHP Brent Powers has been dominant, striking out 13 in 10 scoreless innings for Vermont.

Top Monsters:

OF B.J. Boyd (0 HR / 5 BB / 9 K / .396 AVG / .453 OBP / .500 SLG / .953 OPS)

OF Herschel Powell (0 HR / 2 BB / 4 K / .269 AVG / .321 OBP / .385 SLG / .706 OPS)

OF Kelvin Rojas (1 HR / 2 BB / 8 K / .259 AVG / .300 OBP / .407 SLG / .707 OPS)

LHP Brent Powers (10 IP / 5 H / 0 ER / 1 BB / 13 K / 0.00 ERA / 0.60 WHIP)

RHP Gregory Paulino (16 IP / 17 H / 6 ER / 5 BB / 12 K / 3.38 ERA / 1.38 WHIP)

LHP Jose Torres (8 1/3 IP / 11 H / 4 ER / 1 BB / 7 K / 4.32 ERA / 1.44 WHIP)

AZL A'S

(Rookie Short-Season Arizona League)

Record This Week: 1-5

Record This Season: 3-6

The Arizona League A's started their season about a week and a half ago. The team contains a lot of high school talent from this year's draft as well as some of the A's lower-level college picks. The team's top hitter thus far has been the A's 27^th-round pick, first baseman Ryan Huck, who's batting .459 with 6 doubles and 2 home runs in his first 9 games. The A's 30^th-round pick, outfielder Ben McQuown, has also gotten off to a good start, going 8 for 17 with 3 extra-base hits in his first 7 games. The team's top pick, outfielder Billy McKinney, got off to a hot start, going 7 for his first 14, but has now had just 1 hit in his last 19 at-bats. One of last year's top draft picks, RHP Nolan Sanburn, just made his season debut on Sunday and struck out 3 in 2 scoreless innings of work. Meanwhile, the A's 5^th overall pick in this year's draft, high school left-hander Chris Kohler, has also K'd 3 in 2 scoreless innings, and the team's 20^th overall pick, RHP Sam Bragg, has allowed just 1 hit and struck out 6 over 4 2/3 scoreless innings of work.

Top A's:

1B Ryan Huck (2 HR / 1 BB / 5 K / .459 AVG / .500 OBP / .784 SLG / 1.284 OPS)

OF Ben McQuown (0 HR / 3 BB / 3 K / .471 AVG / .550 OBP / .706 SLG / 1.256 OPS)

C Andy Paz (0 HR / 2 BB / 3 K / .304 AVG / .360 OBP / .348 SLG / .708 OPS)

RHP Sam Bragg (4 2/3 IP / 1 H / 0 ER / 2 BB / 6 K / 0.00 ERA / 0.64 WHIP)

RHP Rony Acevedo (4 IP / 2 H / 0 ER / 0 BB / 5 K / 0.00 ERA / 0.50 WHIP)

RHP Blake McMullen (5 1/3 IP / 5 H / 1 ER / 0 BB / 4 K / 1.69 ERA / 0.94 WHIP)

You can check out my blog - Athletics Farm - for daily updates on the A's minor league teams and all the top prospects down on the farm.