From Rutgers to the Arizona Fall League, A's prospects heading toward Majors together

PHOENIX -- Joshua Kuroda-Grauer and Ryan Lasko have found each other at every stop on their baseball journeys. From Piscataway, N.J., to the shores of Cape Cod, to the heart of central Michigan -- and now the Athletics prospects are back together again in the Arizona Fall League.

In 2022, Kuroda-Grauer (ATH No. 10) joined an upperclassmen-heavy Rutgers program, a year after Lasko (ATH No. 17) made waves as a decorated freshman. From the first months of fall camp, something was clear.

“Well, this guy’s crazy and he’s a nut job, but he plays [a great] center field,” Kuroda-Grauer said.

On the other hand, the National Honors Society student and Perfect Game High School Underclassmen All-American Kuroda-Grauer made early strides with confidence and poise.

“He was one of the most mature out of high school kids,” Lasko said. “He’s always handled himself like a professional.”

That Scarlet Knights team, under the tutelage of head coach Steve Owens, completed only the second 40-win season in program history. The Knights made the Big 10 Tournament championship but missed the NCAA Tournament.

As the team's only everyday starting freshman, Kuroda-Grauer made a quick adjustment to college baseball, earning All-Big Ten Third Team, Big Ten All-Freshman Team and Rutgers Athletics Male Freshman of the Year honors.

“That team was definitely special,” Kuroda-Grauer said. “Getting to win 44 games and having guys like [Lasko] on that team ... he had a crazy, unbelievable year. Seeing guys like that and wanting to be in that position, I think that definitely helped me for my own development.”

Returning from a solid freshman campaign, Lasko didn’t slump as a sophomore. The speedy outfielder slashed .349/.431/.643, breaking Rutgers’ single-season at-bats record (258) and tying the single-season doubles record (24). A Rawlings Second Team All-American and All-Big Ten First Team member, he opened eyes as a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award.

“I remember it being a lot of fun,” Lasko said. “We didn’t get into the regional, which was my first real baseball heartbreak that I had."

That summer, Lasko joined the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League, and Kuroda-Grauer went to the Newport Gulls of the New England Collegiate Baseball League. After his Gulls season was cut short, Kuroda-Grauer stayed in New England, joining a hot Bourne Braves team in the CCBL with two of his Rutgers teammates, Evan Sleight and Chris Brito (KC). In a best-of-3 championship series, the Braves swept Lasko’s Whitecaps in two games.

“When we got back in the fall, there were a lot of bragging rights,” Lasko said. “I got an earful from that, but it was a lot of fun at the end of the day. ... If anyone was going to win, I was glad the people who won were on my side.”

In 2023, after another All-Big Ten First Team campaign, the Athletics drafted Lasko with their second-round pick. A year later, the Athletics went back for a fellow Scarlet Knight in the third round and selected Kuroda-Grauer.

“One of the first things I thought when I got drafted by the A’s was that I get to come and play with Lasko,” Kuroda-Grauer said. “That was surreal to me, and just having a guy I looked up to, especially in college, coming in, a guy that’s older than me. Just knowing I’m going to have a familiar face in the clubhouse is pretty special.”

Moments before the pick, Owens gave an early heads-up to Lasko that he would be heading west.

“I think I was more happy that he was with the A’s than anybody, because it’s another teammate, a guy that I know personally well,” Lasko said. “It just makes the whole process a whole lot easier. I tried to help him out the best I could from what I went through.”

Three weeks out of Draft camp, Kuroda-Grauer earned a promotion to High-A Lansing, reuniting once again with Lasko. Opening up the 2025 campaign once again in the same clubhouse, their camaraderie grew.

“It’s easier to lean on someone when you’ve built that trust and played every day with them in college,” Lasko said. “You’ve played a good majority of games, and you won a lot of games with each other and you’ve gone through the struggle.”

Now Kuroda-Grauer and Lasko have gotten another chance to play together again with the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League. While they were already close before coming to Arizona, the two are getting even tighter now.

“Being here with him, I think I’m definitely getting closer with him, just our friendship off the field,” Kuroda-Grauer said. “Being able to work and try to get better in the cage and stuff like that, little things like that. The games are great, but being here with him and then getting to know the other guys on the teams, it’s been awesome.”