A’s Release 24 Minor Leaguers

by Bill Moriarity / A’s Farm Editor

In March, the A’s released two dozen minor league players before the MLB-mandated roster freeze went into effect at the end of the month. 14 of the players released were pitchers, while 10 were position players.

The vast majority of them never played above A-ball, while half of them never got the chance to play for a full-season club, and many never made it out of the Arizona League.

A couple of the most high-profile players in the group include a pair of the A’s picks from the top 10 rounds of the 2016 draft, both of whom were prominent members of the 2019 Stockton Ports pitching staff…


Mitchell Jordan (RHP)
Jordan was the A’s 10th-round pick in the 2016 draft out of Stetson University. The Florida native spent a pair of seasons pitching for Beloit in the Midwest League. And Jordan turned in a particularly strong showing for the team in 2018, when he put up an ERA of 2.67 in 124 2/3 innings as a member of the Snappers starting rotation. Last season, the 24-year-old led Stockton’s pitching staff with 131 strikeouts while throwing 140 2/3 innings and posting a 4.41 ERA, and he got the chance to make his Double-A debut for Midland when he made a single start for the RockHounds last August.

Will Gilbert (LHP)
Gilbert was the A’s 8th-round pick in the 2016 draft out of North Carolina State, where he worked strictly out of the bullpen. And he appeared solely as a reliever during his time in the A’s system as well. The southpaw spent the past two seasons serving as a key lefty out of the Stockton bullpen. The 26-year-old put up a 2.71 ERA in 38 relief appearances for the Ports in 2018 before posting an ERA of 4.30 in 35 games for Stockton last season.

John Gorman (RHP)
Taken in the 31st round of the 2015 draft out of Boston College, Gorman spent the past two seasons pitching out of the bullpen for Double-A Midland. The 28-year-old put up a 2.78 ERA in 42 relief appearances for the RockHounds in 2018 before posting an ERA of 4.76 in 43 games for Midland last season.

Xavier Altamirano (RHP)
Selected in the 27th round of the 2015 draft out of Oral Roberts University, Altamirano spent parts of three seasons with Beloit in the Midwest League. The righty put up a 3.59 ERA in 117 2/3 innings for the Snappers in 2017 and posted a 3.09 ERA in 12 starts for Beloit in 2018 before finally getting the chance to make his California League debut with Stockton in the second half of that season. The 25-year-old then put up a 6.62 ERA in 13 starts for Stockton in 2018 before compiling an ERA of 5.61 in 28 games for the Ports last year.

Michael Murray (RHP)
Another pitcher taken by the A’s in the later rounds of the 2015 draft, Murray was the team’s 32nd-round pick out of Florida Gulf Coast University. The righty spent most of the 2016 and 2017 seasons with Beloit in the Midwest League before underdoing Tommy John surgery. The 26-year-old returned to action last season, pitching primarily for Vermont, where he put up an ERA of 2.47 over 47 1/3 innings for the Lake Monsters.

Brock Stassi (1B-OF)
The older brother of former A’s farmhand Max Stassi, the A’s signed the first baseman/outfielder to a minor league contract in the offseason and assigned him to Double-A Midland. He was the 33rd-round draft pick of Philadelphia back in 2011 and made his major league debut in 2017 when he appeared in 51 games for the Phillies. The 30-year-old spent last season in the Giants’ system, where he slashed .302/.388/.430 between Double-A Richmond and Triple-A Sacramento.

Joseph Pena (2B-OF)
Selected by the A’s in the 33rd round of the 2018 draft out of St. Thomas Aquinas College, the 24-year-old spent all of last season with Beloit in the Midwest League, where he posted an on-base percentage of .364 over 96 games for the Snappers.

Nick Ward (2B-1B)
Taken by the A’s right after Pena in the 34th round of the 2018 draft out of West Chester University, Ward put up an OPS of .273/.400/.429 in 154 at-bats in the Arizona League in 2018. The 24-year-old spent most of last season with Beloit, where he posted an OPS of .662 in 85 games for the Snappers. The Pennsylvania native got the chance to make his Triple-A debut when he appeared in 2 games for Nashville in 2018.

Anthony Churlin (OF)
Churlin was the A’s 16th-round pick in the 2016 draft out of high school in Florida. The 22-year-old spent all of last season with Beloit, where he slashed .259/.332/.345 in 91 games for the Snappers.

Nick Osborne (OF)
The A’s signed Osborne as an undrafted free agent in 2018 out of Tennessee Tech. The 23-year-old spent most of last season with Beloit, where he posted an OPS of .712 in 246 at-bats for the Snappers.

Noah Vaughan (OF)
The A’s made Vaughan their 12th-round pick in the 2018 draft out of the University of Texas at Arlington. The 22-year-old spent much of last season with Vermont, where he slashed .122/.210/.200 for the Lake Monsters.

Other A’s Minor Leaguers Released in March:
2B Matt McGarry, 1B Gio Dingcong, OF Alonzo Jones, OF Matt Koehler, LHP Yorlenis Noa, LHP Jorge Martinez, RHP Carlos Sanchez, RHP Malik Jones, RHP Keiro Munoz, RHP Jesus Monserratt, RHP Manuel Manzanillo, RHP Chase Wheatcroft, RHP Cole Gray

You can find updated rosters for all the A’s minor league affiliates here – Rosters

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2 Replies to “A’s Release 24 Minor Leaguers”

  1. Greg Deichmann is listed on the Single A Roster? He played all of last year at the Double A level and performed extremely well in the Arizona Fall League, so am surprised he would be Demoted back to Stockton.

    1. Yep. My understanding is that he had been ticketed to start the season back at Midland. Not sure why they’ve assigned him to the Stockton roster for now, but that’s what they did.

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