A’s Farm Director Ed Sprague Offers The Inside Scoop On A’s Top Prospects

by Bill Moriarity / A’s Farm Editor
August 27, 2020

In his first year as the A’s director of player development, Ed Sprague certainly didn’t expect to be spending the summer in San Jose. But with the minor league season cancelled this year, that’s exactly where the northern California native finds himself.

The former All-Star third baseman is in charge of the A’s alternate camp in San Jose, where the members of the A’s 60-man player pool who aren’t on the major league roster are working out this summer.

Most of the players there probably would have spent this season with the A’s Triple-A affiliate in Las Vegas, but there are also some talented teenagers in attendance, including shortstop Robert Puason, outfielder Brayan Buelvas and the team’s top draft pick this year, catcher Tyler Soderstrom.

At the camp, Sprague is aided by a team of coaches that includes, among others, Las Vegas manager Fran Riordan, Triple-A pitching coach Rick Rodriguez and former A’s shortstop Bobby Crosby.

Without any minor league action, it’s hard to glean much information on the A’s top prospects this year, so we took the opportunity to talk with Sprague this week to get his insights on some of the team’s most talented young players…

AF:  You’re running the A’s alternate camp there in San Jose at the old San Jose Municipal Stadium. Can you just tell us a little bit about what a typical day is like over there?

ES:  The coaching staff usually gets to the ballpark somewhere between 7:30 and 8:00 depending on the day. We have to have our temperature taken every day, and then we have testing every other day for tier one and then testing every fourth day for tier two. So that takes a little bit of time. And then the players kind of come in in groups, just because we can’t really socially distance a ton given the locker room space. We have made use of both locker rooms and the concourse to kind of spread out. So the day’s kind of a rolling schedule of catchers, infielders, outfielders…They go through their normal day of basically cage work and defense and then batting practice. And then we usually have lunch at some point and then, afterwards, we’ll have some sort of intrasquad game. Depending on what pitching we have available that day, it could be two-and-a-half innings, it could be three innings. Today, we actually had seven – it was our longest game we’ve had since we’ve been here. So that’s kind of the typical day. And then some guys will stay afterwards and get a little extra work, whether it’s in the cage or on the field.

AF:  It’s interesting because most of the guys who were invited to the alternate camp, they were obviously guys that the front office thought could potentially be of use to the major league club during the course of the season if there were injuries or whatever. But there were also some really young guys who got invited in too – your first-round draft pick this year, catcher Tyler Soderstrom, also shortstop Robert Puason, and outfielder Brayan Buelvas. They’re all still teenagers who were invited in. So can you talk a little bit about the thinking and the decision to bring those young guys into this camp?

ES:  Yeah, it’s been a unique camp. Obviously, we have Eric Campbell, who’s 33, and Carlos Perez, who’s 30. So we have a group of older guys, typical Triple-A/big league-type guys. And then we have the younger kids, and then kind of a mix in between…Obviously, in a perfect world, you’d like to have these guys get a full season or at least a half season of at-bats. But I think it’s been a great situation and very unique in terms of having these younger guys being around these older veteran guys, which never typically happens in a regular minor league season. And I think the lessons they’ve learned in watching these guys go about their business and how they perform and how they go through the routines has been invaluable. I really think as much as you’d like to have these younger guys get 150, 200, 300 bats in a minor league season, I think this, for these guys, they’re going to look back and think this is probably one of the best experiences and probably a big platform for them to move up even faster.

AF:  You probably wouldn’t have had a chance to get your eyes on these young guys quite so much as you are now every day. So I’m curious to know what you’ve seen out of them.

ES:  They’ve been great. They really have. Tyler Soderstrom…we knew that he was a plus bat coming out of the draft, and he’s shown every bit of that. He’s very advanced with the bat and is probably the best bat that I’ve seen us take since I’ve been here in my short five years in Oakland in terms of strike-zone discipline and power at a young age. He’s been really impressive offensively. And defensively, I only got a chance to watch a little video going into the draft, and that was from last summer, so he’s farther along behind the plate than I was expecting – still a long ways to go in terms of refining the position, but he’s done very well. He’s impressed the older guys, and he’s got the nickname of “Kid,” and he’s fit right in…And Buelvas and Puason have been the same. Buelvas played last summer and obviously was very impressive in the AZL and put up some numbers. He’s kind of taken the next step and just keeps grinding. And Puason has never even really had a pro at-bat if you talk about the regular season. He’s been fortunate to have Bobby Crosby here working with him on a daily basis, and he’s drilled out very well. He looks really good. The game is still a little fast for him, but he just hasn’t really played in a ton of games, and now he’s facing guys with exit velocities at Double-A/Triple-A/major league-type level. And so that’s a little bit of a faster pace than maybe he’s ever seen before, but he’s held his own, and he battles at the plate. They’re doing just fine. Everybody’s been very impressed with their work ethic and how they handle themselves – and their English is coming along very good…They’re great kids. They play with a smile on their face. They show up every day ready to rock and roll. And I just think that we’ve been very fortunate with the veteran players that we’ve had, like I said before, in Campbell and Perez and Nate Orf. These guys have been true pros and have taken these guys under their wings…It’s been like having three or four extra coaches around. They’ve just been phenomenal.

AF:  Well, that’s definitely one great thing. They’ve probably had a chance to get a lot more personal one-on-one instruction, both from coaches and fellow players, than they would have if they were out there having to play games in a league every day. There’s probably a lot of refinement that’s going on thanks to some of that instruction.

ES:  Yeah, absolutely. The format is very similar to an instruction league situation. But you add in older players or guys who have been in Double-A, Triple-A and even the big leagues – Skye Bolt, and Seth Brown before he got called back up, and Eric [Campbell] has got some big league time, [Carlos] Perez has got some big league time, [Nate] Orf’s got some big league time. It’s just been nice. You just don’t ever have this type of situation in a typical season. And from a younger player’s development standpoint, I think it’s been fantastic.

AF:  Like I mentioned, most of the guys who were brought into camp were really intended to be there in case the big league team needed help. And then you brought in a few of these younger guys as well. But probably the most significant names that were not invited in were outfielders Austin Beck and Lazaro Armenteros. Can you talk a little bit about the thinking and the decision-making behind which younger guys you wanted to invite into camp and which ones didn’t end up getting extended invitations this summer?

ES:  It really just came down to numbers. We would have loved to have those guys here. They’re obviously very valuable pieces to our system, but we were just limited on the number of young guys we could have. And a lot of the older guys were outfielders, so that’s probably what happened with leaving those guys off, because we needed to have a situation where we could play intrasquad games, stuff like that. But it really just came down to sheer numbers. So, making sure that there was enough of a pile of players that could help the big league club if something were to happen through injuries or positive testing. And then we just wanted a number of guys that have been in the system that have had some success that we needed to get them some more at-bats. Davidson really only had a half a year, and Nick Allen had an injury last year. We definitely wanted to get Soderstrom involved. Puason and Buelvas have only played half seasons or not at all…If it was 62, they probably would have been next on the list. That’s just what it really came down to is just strictly numbers.

AF:  Well, in baseball, it always ends up being a numbers game one way or another! You mentioned a couple of guys there I wanted to ask you about. The A’s are blessed to have a number of talented shortstops in the system at this point. We talked about Robert Puason, but there’s also Nick Allen and Logan Davidson. It was going to be important years for both of them. Nick Allen has always been known as a defensive standout, but he really made big strides with the bat last year, and this could have been a big year for him really getting himself closer to the majors. And then Logan Davidson was your top draft pick last year, and this would have been his first full season in pro ball. They’re both intriguing prospects. Can you talk a little bit about what you’ve been able to see out of them in that environment down there?

ES:  Yeah, we’ve definitely seen an uptick in the offensive side of both of them. Logan started slow in Vermont last year and then was able to kind of turn things around, finished good, then went to instructional league and made some changes, really came on in mini-camp and was playing well. Nick obviously missed some at-bats, played in the [Arizona] Fall League, struggled a little bit but worked on his game and came back. He’s really swung the bat extremely well. Both guys are really good defenders. They’re different type of defenders. One’s a six-foot-three lanky guy, and Nick’s five-foot-eight. They both are very clean at short, but it’s just a different look…but they both made tremendous strides in all aspects of their game. And like I said, I think having former Rookie of the Year Bobby Crosby working with them every day has been great. And he’s out there every morning at nine o’clock, or before then, and they have one-on-one with Bobby on a daily basis, so it’s been nice.

AF:  There’s also a couple of outfielders there that I was interested in – Greg Deichmann and Luis Barrera. They’re a couple of guys who probably this year might have gotten a chance to get some time at Triple-A and maybe be just one step away from making that big breakthrough to the majors. Can you tell me what kind of progress you’ve seen out of those guys and where you feel they’re at this point?

ES:  Yeah, Deich obviously jumped another level when he had a great [Arizona] Fall League. He had battled some injuries in his first few years with us, finally got some consistent at-bats and really kind of showed off the power. He hit nine home runs in the [Arizona] Fall League. He played really well and got a chance to showcase himself a little bit in big league camp. Barrera, same thing, really turned a corner, but hurt his shoulder a little bit last year. Both guys have played extremely well. I think Barrera is hitting over .400 down here in our alt site. He’s a slasher, uses the whole field, can really run, kind of a game changer with his legs. In terms of batting, power is going to come down the road. So, he’s still kind of figuring out the pull-side backspin situation, but he plays a good outfield. Both of them are good outfielders. Deichmann’s got a plus arm out there, and his power is real. So it’s been fun to watch both those guys. I think they’ve kind of picked up where they left off last year in terms of making the strides and getting it to the next level. And I’m with you. I think in a normal situation over the course of 162 games with possibly injuries and different things that happen, I think you’d have probably had a chance to see one or two of these guys not only just at Triple-A but maybe have a chance to impact Oakland.

AF:  One other outfielder down there I wanted to ask you about is a guy you got from San Diego in the Jurickson Profar trade, and that’s Buddy Reed. It seems like there are a lot of people in the A’s front office who really like him. So can you tell me what you’ve seen out of him down there?

ES:  Just a superb athlete, can really run, defends amazingly in the outfield, probably a seven plus arm defensively, switch-hitter. He’s probably performed better from the right side traditionally in the years he’s been playing. Left side, he’s been grinding, working hard. He’s really started to swing the bat better and better each day from the left side. He’s not getting a ton of right-handed at-bats because we only have one left-handed pitcher in Lucas Luetge…but he’s working hard. I think he’s made a lot of improvements since the time I saw him briefly in spring training…He’s a high energy kid. He’s lovable. He comes with a smile on his face. He brings a ton of energy, and he’s just excited to be a part of the Oakland A’s. And like I said, he works at it every day. So, he’s been fun to get to know.

AF:  I wanted to ask you about a couple of pitchers as well, starting with James Kaprielian. We all know everything he’s been through, all the injury issues, how much time he was off. And he was able to get up and at least dip his toe in the major league waters this year. How important do you think it was for him to get his shot, to actually be in the major leagues, especially after everything he’s been through? And what set him apart and made him be the arm that the A’s wanted to bring up when they had a hole to fill at the major league level?

ES:  Yeah, outside of James and his family, I don’t think anybody was more excited than the coaches, the medical staff, everybody that worked so hard to get him back on track. And when that call finally came, it was pretty special to give him the news that he was going up, even though he got up there that first time and didn’t get in a game and came back down. But I think it’s just the uptick in velocity. Obviously, coming out as an amateur, he threw extremely hard, had to kind of reinvent himself a little bit, was kind of 92-93 [mph] last year just getting out for the first time in a few years. And then the velocity seemed to just uptick, and everything plays off of that. His changeup is good, and his slider’s plus at times – and he’s just continuing to get a feel for that. He added a little bit of a two-seamer here at the alt site camp, and he kind of liked that, and he’s started to play around with that a little bit. But he was just having a really good camp…So we were all excited for him, and he just got better from day one at the alt site. And it was extremely exciting for everybody that he got an opportunity.

AF:  A couple of other interesting pitchers you’ve got down there are Daulton Jefferies and Grant Holmes. Under normal circumstances, those two guys probably would have been pitching in the Triple-A rotation this year, along with Kaprielian. Instead, they’ve had to be working out at the alternate camp and trying to make progress the best they can there. So can you tell us a little bit about what you’ve seen out of them and where you feel Daulton Jefferies and Grant Holmes are both at at this stage of the game?

ES:  Yeah, Daulton had a little bit of an injury coming out of spring training that set him back. But the break kind of did him some good, and he hit the ground running when we got to San Jose. He’s arguably been our best guy in terms of command. His changeup is obviously a plus pitch – can throw it at any time in any count. His cutter’s come along. I think the slider’s still kind of a work in progress. But I have no doubt that he could be a two-pitch guy right now, especially if they want to use him out of the ‘pen. We’re slowly building him back up to get to four or five innings and get his pitch count up. But he’s been a great worker. He hasn’t missed a beat. It’s been nice. Holmes has been getting better and better and working at it. I feel like he’s got a little better deception than he’s had in the past. His breaking ball has really improved. He’s getting a ton of swing and misses with his curveball. He busted out a two-seamer today that I hadn’t seen – he doesn’t throw it a whole lot – but it was extremely good, and he might start adding that a little bit more into his repertoire. But his velo is holding steady. And all those guys have answered the bell every time they get the ball every fifth day in terms of going out and throwing strikes and filling it up and competing.

AF:  Well, that’s good to hear. I was really looking forward to seeing them pitching at Triple-A this year and seeing what they could do there, but it’s good to know they’re making progress one way or another. Now what about other guys in the system who aren’t there in camp? Are you guys keeping in touch with them? Are you keeping tabs on what they’re up to this offseason? What about all these other guys who aren’t actually there in San Jose?

ES:  Yeah, we have a phone tree. Gil Patterson, our pitching coordinator, is in contact with our pitchers almost on a daily basis, and they’re reporting back to him what they’ve been able to do, whether it’s play catch, throw off a mound, throw to live hitters. Everybody’s situation is a little bit unique depending on where they’re living and what’s around. And, obviously, early on, it was a little bit more challenging. And then we have a phone tree between Jim Eppard and a lot of our other coaches keeping in touch with these hitters and these defenders. And then, of course, our medical and strength and conditioning are in contact with these guys on a bi-weekly basis. So these guys are hearing from us quite a bit…probably more often even than they want to…We’re trying to get these guys, the pitchers, at least simulated innings, at least 75% of what they were last year so, as we move into next year, they won’t be able to be held back too much. I think that’s probably the biggest thing is trying to at least simulate as many innings as they can to get them to where they were the year before.

AF:  It’s been such an unusual year, but we’re also going to have an unusual year next year, because there’s a lot of adaptation that’s going to have to happen. As we know, there’s talk that the minor leagues will probably be contracted next year, and every team’s going to have fewer affiliates, which means every team’s going to have fewer minor league players in their systems. Have you given much thought yet, under these unusual circumstances, to the landscape of next season and how you might have to operate in a different minor league system with fewer affiliates and fewer players in the system?

ES:  Yeah, we’ve thought about it. I don’t think we’ve really scripted anything out. We’re just kind of waiting for official word on how this is all going to play out. And then, of course, David [Forst] and Billy [Beane] have got to work with the ownership and see where we are in a budget situation and how it all plays out. There’s a lot of speculation on how it’s going to go, and nobody really knows for sure. So we give it a little bit of a framework, but nothing too much in stone in terms of how things will go forward. We’ll just have to be prepared when that time comes, and whatever MLB lays out as the framework, we’ll be prepared to adapt.

AF:  Well, hopefully they can sort it out before too long so you guys can have a little more wiggle room to adapt anyway.

ES:  Yeah, exactly!

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