Interviews - A's Farm

A Trio of Top A’s Prospects Talks about This Season at Triple-A

The A’s Triple-A affiliate Nashville Sounds currently lead their division by 8 ½ games. And solid performances by many Sounds players, combined with a wave of injuries for the A’s, has provided plenty of opportunities for prospects like Ryon Healy, Bruce Maxwell, Daniel Mengden and Dillon Overton to make their…

Exclusive: Down on the Farm with A’s Special Assistant Grady Fuson

Long-time baseball man Grady Fuson served as the A’s scouting director from 1995 until 2001, when the team drafted such talented players as Eric Chavez, Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito and Rich Harden. He left the A’s at the end of 2001 to become the assistant general manager of the Texas Rangers and, after moving on…

Talking about Stockton’s Top Prospects with Manager Rick Magnante

Stockton skipper Rick Magnante originally began his professional baseball career as a 13th-round draft pick of the Cleveland Indians out of the University of Santa Barbara back in 1969. He first joined the A’s organization in 1995 as an area scout covering southern California. He also began managing short-season teams…

Catching Up With a Pair of the Ports’ Top Hitters: James Harris & Joe Bennie

The A’s affiliate in the California League, the Stockton Ports, has struggled for much of this season, putting up a .408 winning percentage through the team’s first 98 games. But a couple of Stockton’s biggest standouts in the batter’s box so far this season have been outfielder James Harris and second…

A’s Rookies Ryon Healy & Daniel Mengden Talk about Life in the Majors

Due to a seemingly never-ending wave of injuries, the A’s have truly been a team in flux this season. But the resulting roster turmoil has provided plenty of opportunities for some of the team’s top prospects, including starting pitcher Daniel Mengden and corner infielder Ryon Healy, both of whom we…

Get the Inside Scoop on Oakland’s Top 11 Draft Picks of 2016 from A’s Scouting Director Eric Kubota

The A’s took a familiar path in this year’s draft, selecting college players with fifteen of their top sixteen picks. And the team took a trio of talented college pitchers with their top three selections. Top pick A.J. Puk is a flame-throwing lefty out of Florida with top-of-the-rotation potential, while second…

Local Boy Daulton Jefferies Makes Good as A’s 2nd Pick in This Year’s Draft

The A’s didn’t have to look far to find their second pick in this year’s amateur draft. With the 37th overall selection, the team took Daulton Jefferies, a 20-year-old right-hander who’s spent the past three years pitching right in their own backyard at UC Berkeley for the California Golden Bears.…

A’s Top 10 Prospect Review with A’s Assistant General Manager Billy Owens

Now that we’re about a third of the way into the minor league season, we wanted to step back and take a look at how all the players from our preseason Top 10 Prospect List have been performing so far this season. And there’s no one better to help us…

Getting To Know: A’s Pitching Prospect Daniel Mengden

Right-hander Daniel Mengden came roaring out of the gate this season and got off to as impressive a start as any pitcher in the A’s system. The Texas native allowed just two runs over his first four starts at Double-A Midland while notching 28 strikeouts in 23 innings to go…

Exclusive: Down On The Farm with A’s Special Assistant Grady Fuson

Olson, Pinder & Chapman: Trio of Top Prospects Talks about Spending the Spring in Big League Camp

#3 on A’s Farm’s Top 10 Prospect List, Matt Olson is one of the top young power-hitting prospects in the A’s system. He was the A’s third overall pick in the 2012 draft, selected right behind shortstops Addison Russell and Daniel Robertson, who would soon become his roommates and two…

Catching Up With The M Squad: Sean Manaea, Max Muncy & Bruce Maxwell

Sean Manaea was acquired from Kansas City last summer in the Ben Zobrist trade and immediately became the A’s top pitching prospect. He posted a 1.90 ERA in 7 starts for Double-A Midland last season and is expected to start the year atop Triple-A Nashville’s starting rotation. The big lefty…

Bob Melvin Gives the Lowdown on the A’s Top Prospects

In his pre-game press conferences in recent days, A’s manager Bob Melvin has had plenty of opportunities to offer his perspective on the plethora of A’s prospects who’ve appeared in the big league camp with the team this spring. No one has had as good a view of the current…

Ray Fosse’s Take on this Spring’s Crop of Top Prospects

Not only has Ray Fosse now spent three decades as a broadcaster for the Oakland A’s, working alongside names like Bill King, Lon Simmons, Ken Korach and Glen Kuiper, but he’s also a former All-Star catcher who won two World Series rings with the A’s in 1973 and 1974. We took…

A’s GM David Forst Talks about the A’s Starting Rotation, Clubhouse Chemistry, an Extension for Reddick & Some of the Team’s Top Prospects

In what’s become his annual winter interview with bloggers, A’s general manager David Forst addressed a wide range of topics covering both the major league squad as well as some of the system’s top prospects at A’s FanFest on Sunday. In his session, Forst discussed how he sees the team’s starting rotation…

Exclusive: Get the Inside Scoop on Nashville’s Top Players from Sounds Skipper Steve Scarsone

After spending parts of seven seasons as a big league infielder, Steve Scarsone has now spent seven seasons managing in the A’s minor league system. He’s currently midway through his third season managing at Triple-A, though this year the California native had to head east as the A’s Pacific Coast League…

Catching Up With A Couple Of A’s Infield Prospects: Max Muncy & Joey Wendle

On a veteran Nashville club where the average age is almost 29, only two position players on the team were born in the ‘90s – infielders Max Muncy and Joey Wendle. As the youngest hitting prospects on the squad, the two are more likely to find themselves playing significant roles…

Exclusive: Down On The Farm with A’s Special Assistant Grady Fuson

Catching Up With: Matt Chapman – 2014’s Powerful 1st-Round Pick

After being taken with the A’s top pick in the 2014 amateur draft, third baseman Matt Chapman began his career in the A’s system at Beloit. The Orange County native got off to a bit of a slow start in the Midwest League, but later performed well in the postseason when…

Exclusive: Get the Inside Scoop on Stockton’s Top Prospects from Ports Manager Rick Magnante & Pitching Coach Rick Rodriguez

After spending the past nine seasons managing at Vancouver, Vermont and Beloit in the A’s system, Rick Magnante returned to his native California this season to pilot the California League’s Stockton Ports. Meanwhile, another California native, Rick Rodriguez, who served as the long-time pitching coach for the Sacramento River Cats,…