Elephant Rumblings: Mason Miller turning scouts’ heads

Happy Wednesday, Athletics Nation!

Much has been made lately of A’s flamethrowing righty prospect Mason Miller, who dazzled in the Arizona Fall League with triple digit heat. Zach Buchanan at The Athletic counted Miller among the ten AFL prospects that most impressed scouts.

Buchanan writes that “No pitcher in the fall league could match the 24-year-old right-hander on stuff,” and quoted one scout as saying that Miller “should be a top-50 prospect in baseball.”

Currently, Miller is the A’s 20th ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline, with a MLB ETA of 2025.

Meanwhile, political winds are shifting in Oakland and it is clear that there will be no binding vote on the Howard Terminal development project before the end of 2022. Outgoing mayor Libby Schaaf has been a major proponent of the project, but she is terming out, and her chosen successor, City Council Member Loren Taylor, lost her election to fellow Council Member Sheng Thao by a razor thin margin.

But all may not be lost: after all, the power to approve rests largely with the council rather than the mayor, and Thao expressed qualified support for keeping the A’s in Oakland before the election. But we’ll have to wait until 2023 to see just how much backing the project has from city government. And we are oh, so tired of waiting.

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving, AN!

A’s Coverage:

• Buchanan: Ten Arizona Fall League prospects scouts liked most, plus 5 who left mixed impressions ($)
• Epstein: A federal grant for a new waterfront ballpark would help the A’s far more than Oakland ($)

MLB News & Interest:

• Groke: Touching Base: A new monthly column highlighting baseball happenings around the world ($)
• Stark: 2023 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot: Stark’s 5 things to watch — Scott Rolen, Carlos Beltrán, 3 risers ($)
• Bowden: MLB trade scenarios: Bowden answers 20 questions on pitchers, bad contracts, more ($)
• McDonald: Trying To Find Hidden Gems With BB/K – 2022-23 Edition
• Feinsand: Astros receive biggest postseason shares in MLB history
• Avallone: Here are 2022’s MiLB Gold Glove winners
• Today in Baseball History

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