Sunday, November 01

Hello! Welcome to another edition of the A’s beat newsletter.

Leo De Vries made such an excellent impression after his first A's Spring Training in March that it left fans dreaming about a potential call to the Majors for the 19-year-old phenom at some point in 2026.

Unfortunately, De Vries' Major League debut will have to wait. Placed on the seven-day injured list by Double-A Midland on Aug. 18, the A’s No. 1 and No. 2 overall prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline is dealing with a sore right shoulder that will keep him out for the remainder of the Minor League season.

De Vries' injury is not considered serious. He was sent to the A’s Spring Training complex in Arizona to rehab under the guidance of the club’s medical and training staff. He was shut down from throwing for four weeks from the date of his IL placement, which puts him in line to start to ramp up in late September and opens the door for him to get some extra reps either in the Arizona Fall League or winter ball in the Dominican Republic, though the A’s have not decided whether they will explore that option yet.

Ending the season on the IL is never ideal. But De Vries still managed to put together a strong body of work in what was his first full season in the A’s organization after being acquired from the Padres for Mason Miller and JP Sears at the 2025 Trade Deadline.

Let’s look back at De Vries' 2026 season.

SPRING EXCELLENCE

De Vries matched the hype surrounding his arrival to his first big league camp with the A’s. The switch-hitting shortstop hit .426 (20-for-47) with three homers, three doubles, 12 RBIs and four stolen bases in Cactus League action, highlighted by a two-homer game against the Dodgers that included a grand slam.

De Vries left no doubt that he had the skill set to hang with Major League-caliber pitching and the talent to handle the shortstop position.

MASTERING TEXAS LEAGUE PITCHING

The start of De Vries’ Minor League season began where it ended the previous year with Double-A Midland, the level typically reserved for the best pitching prospects in baseball.

Consistency was the name of the game for De Vries, never going more than three consecutive games without notching at least one hit. Overall, he slashed .290/.378/.458 with 13 home runs, 21 doubles and 55 RBIs in 93 games. He also showed off his speed, with his 34 stolen bases by far the most he’s ever swiped in a season over his professional career.

IMPROVED VERSATILITY

The A’s experimented with De Vries’ positional flexibility by giving him some time at third base, a position he’d never previously played at any level. In 15 games at the hot corner, De Vries logged 129 innings and committed just three errors while showing more than enough arm strength.

De Vries is still viewed primarily as a shortstop, but showing the ability to play another position will only help his chances for a quicker callup, should the A’s need an infielder at some point next season.

BATTLING INJURIES

When De Vries was reassigned to Minor League camp this spring, A’s manager Mark Kotsay said the final step for the young star was to work on adding muscle and strengthening his body to withstand a full season.

“The biggest thing for Leo is to get in the weight room and really put the work in to add the muscle,” Kotsay said in Spring Training. “We can all add weight, but it has to be good weight, and it has to be a strength component that he can maintain for 140 games or more.”

The A’s would like to see that process continue into the offseason for De Vries, who dealt with a few different minor injuries this year before this most recent shoulder issue, which likely prevented a promotion to Triple-A Las Vegas to end his season.

“When we acquired him, we were in need of a defensive shortstop who can come in and solidify that position. The bat hasn’t played, maybe, to the level of expectations when he was drafted, but it takes a while sometimes for these guys to develop.

This is a great sign that Alika is driving the baseball and taking quality at-bats consistently. His former manager, Twins manager Derek Shelton, was his manager as a rookie in Pittsburgh. We talked a little bit about how the bat was getting knocked out of his hand at that point.

There’s a difference right now in the way he’s attacking the zone and being able to drive the ball.” -- Kotsay on infielder Alika Williams, who smashed a go-ahead two-run triple in Wednesday's victory and is batting .294 (35-for-119) since June 10.

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