This story was excerpted from Martín Gallegos’ A’s Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
WEST SACRAMENTO – Any conversation about the Athletics’ farm system begins with Leo De Vries, the club’s No. 1 prospect and now the No. 2 overall prospect in baseball following MLB Pipeline’s midseason re-rank.
De Vries rightfully remains the organization’s shining star, but he’s not the only promising young player with star potential. The system got deeper in talent with a 2026 MLB Draft widely regarded as a strong class for the A’s, headlined by slugging outfielder Drew Burress, their first-round selection out of Georgia Tech with the No. 8 overall pick. Burress joins De Vries and left-hander Jamie Arnold, already performing well at Double-A Midland and knocking on the door of Triple-A Las Vegas after he was the 11th overall selection in the 2025 MLB Draft, as a trio of A’s farmhands on MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects list.
COMPLETE ATHLETICS PROSPECT COVERAGE
“I think we’re in a good spot,” A’s director of player development Ed Sprague said of the state of the club’s farm system. “Obviously, we’ve graduated a lot of players over the last couple of years. We’ve made some trades to bolster the system. … We’ve got some pitching and young position players on the come up. I think we’re in a good position.”
Here’s a look at the A's top prospects:
1. Leo De Vries, SS/3B (MLB No. 2)
2. Drew Burress, OF (MLB No. 41)
3. Jamie Arnold, LHP (MLB No. 57)
4. Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, 2B/SS
5. Johenssy Colome, SS
Biggest jump/fall
Here are the players whose ranks changed the most from the preseason list:
Jump: Breyson Guedez, OF (2026 preseason: 23 | 2026 re-rank: No. 9)
Guedez was regarded as one of the top hitters in the 2025 international signing class, and it hasn’t taken long for that to show through as a professional. After impressing the A’s big league staff this spring in his opportunities to come up from Minor League camp for Cactus League games, Guedez more than held his own in the California League as an 18-year-old by hitting .309 with an .813 OPS and 39 extra-base hits in 91 games for Single-A Stockton before earning a promotion to High-A Lansing in August.
Fall: Gavin Turley, OF (2026 preseason: 15 | 2026 re-rank: NR)
Turley entered the organization with high praise as a fourth-round Draft pick in 2025 out of Oregon State. He was aggressively pushed to High-A to begin this season, but the 22-year-old outfielder struggled early and was demoted in late April to Single-A, where he’s shown some decent power with 10 homers through his first 63 games but is striking out at a high rate.
New to the list
Here are the players added to the Top 30 from outside the organization:
No. 2: Burress, OF (Draft)
No. 8: Mason Edwards, LHP (Draft)
No. 11: Gabe Gaeckle, RHP (Draft)
No. 12: Jacob Dudan, RHP (Draft)
No. 18: Roman Martin, SS (Draft)
Best tools
Players are graded on a 20-80 scouting scale for future tools -- 20-30 is well below average, 40 is below average, 50 is average, 60 is plus and 70-80 is well above average. Players in parentheses have the same grade.
Hit: 60 -- Leo De Vries
Power: 60 -- Drew Burress (Devin Taylor)
Run: 60 -- Joshua Kuroda-Grauer
Arm: 65 -- Darwing Ozuna (Roman Martin)
Defense: 60 -- Ali Camarillo
Fastball: 60 -- Gabe Gaeckle (Jacob Dudan, Braden Nett, Yunior Tur, Jackson Finley)
Curveball: 60 — Mason Edwards
Slider: 65 -- Jacob Dudan
Changeup: 55 -- Mason Edwards (Braden Nett, Zane Taylor)
Control: 60 -- Gunnar Hoglund