It’s May 4, 2024, the first day of the Arizona Complex League schedule, and thus, it’s time to preview the 2024 Arizona Complex League Athletics.
Wait, what?
Yeah, it might’ve snuck up on you. It snuck up on me, too–I legitimately had no idea the ACL season started now until about a week ago (that’s what I get for being out of the loop all offseason). But the ACL A’s roster is out and the season is getting set to begin this afternoon, so let’s talk about the team.
Some Background, If You Want It
If you’re familiar with the dynamics around the changes in the Rookie level over the last few years (or don’t care about them), feel free to skip this part and go straight to the roster breakdown below.
The 2024 season marks the start of a new era for the Arizona Complex League, but the circuit is no stranger to recent change. The Rookie level was the (surviving) level most impacted by the contraction of the draft and the minor leagues in the post-2020 landscape.
There were two main impacts the contraction and associated changes had on it. First, with the draft taking place in July instead of early June, and the Rookie level calendar starting 2-3 weeks earlier than it used to, the Rookie seasons typically proceeded with no involvement from that year’s draftees until the final weeks of the 2 ½ month campaign. Second, without a second short-season level to take the more advanced players who were still shy of full-season readiness, the Rookie rosters became more of a pileup of (mostly international, with a few high school) players in their first, second, third, or fourth full stateside pro seasons. College draftees almost never spent extended time at the level anymore, and with no intermediate level between Rookie and Low-A, it became significantly harder to ascertain whether strong performance at the Rookie level portended readiness to advance.
Thus, there was a whole group of players (college draftees) for whom participation in the level was merely a brief formality, while another (international players) could well find it the hardest level to successfully graduate from in minor league baseball. In my opinion, the jump from Rookie to Low-A is now the hardest jump to make in pro baseball–possibly followed by the jump from the DSL to the US–until one gets to the jump from Triple-A to the big leagues. We just don’t think about it all that often because such a large proportion of players–and the overwhelming majority of well-known-at-the-time prospects–never really face it.
The change for the 2024 season both accentuates the new normal of the Rookie level and better adjusts to it. Now, the (US; the Dominican Summer League is unchanged) Rookie season begins today and runs through July 25; in the previous couple of years, it started and ended roughly a month later. The change essentially ends any notion of draftees playing Rookie-level games in their draft year, which is probably a good thing*–having twenty new players suddenly appear on a roster with three weeks to go in the season is a recipe for upheaval for everyone involved. The change also allows these players to get their seasons** started earlier; early strong performance in Rookie ball can get a player promoted to Low-A with three or more months to go on the full-season calendar. That gives teams more time to evaluate these players and gives the players more time to make a good impression and/or adjust to adversity in season. Win-win.
*If one is going to have the draft over the All-Star Break, that is. I don’t like that it’s then, and most folks in baseball apparently don’t either. I staunchly disagree with the contraction, change of the draft time, and all the other 2020-era changes to minor league baseball, but with those changes enacted, this timing of the Rookie season makes more sense than the 2022-23 one.
**In an official sense. There is Extended Spring Training before this.
The other change that really impacts things at the Rookie level this year comes from the minor league CBA, which is that teams can only have 165 players on active* rosters at their US minor league affiliates at a time. Since teams have five minor league affiliates–Triple-A, Double-A, High-A, Low-A, and Rookie–that averages out to 33 players per affiliate. If you assume a team maxes out its 28-man rosters at the highest two minor league levels and runs 30-man rosters at the lowest three, that would be 146. That leaves room for 19 7-day IL players, but things get pretty snug pretty quick. As such, the days of running ~40-man Rookie rosters, as the 2023 ACL A’s did–to say nothing of having two separate Rookie-level teams–are likely gone.
*This includes players on the 7-day IL, development list, and I believe the restricted list. It does not include players on the 60-day IL, and I don’t think it includes big league rehabbers.
The Roster
Against this backdrop, then, exist the 2024 Arizona Complex League Athletics. This team certainly doesn’t break from the post-2020 new normal at the level, as it is indeed comprised almost entirely of international players at fairly varied ages and years of professional service, but it does depart from the giant roster of 2023 and presents as a much more normal, stable roster than the 75+ player* chaos that characterized the last several ACL A’s seasons.
*This number definitely gets inflated by rehabbers, who will no doubt still be a significant presence this season, but taking the draftees out and disincentivizing having a giant roster is a positive, I think. That’s not to say I like the 165-player cap–honestly, I hate it–but I don’t think carrying around one giant team in Rookie ball is a great developmental situation. Two teams–which the A’s briefly had in 2019, and several organizations had as recently as last year–makes a lot of sense, but that’s out of the picture now.
A notable trend at play here is that no members of the 2023 ACL A’s who hadn’t previously played* in Low-A Stockton were promoted up to the next level this year;** so basically every successful player on last year’s team appears on the Opening Day 2024 ACL A’s roster. You might initially think that reflects a lackluster 2023 ACL A’s season, which their 20-36 record would seem to confirm. But a deeper look shows that the team overall was quite competitive (26-30 Pythagorean record) and there were indeed several standout performances from players who still have yet to advance to Stockton in 2024.
*So, this excludes Dárlyn Montéro, Nelson Beltran, and Robert Puason, who all opened 2023 in Stockton, struggled, and were sent down to the ACL; they’re back in Stockton this year.
**Well, sort of. Mario Gómez and Elvis Rijo were promoted, but neither to Stockton; they have both been on fill-in assignments at Midland and Lansing, respectively.
That specter of successful 2023 ACL A's still waiting their turn to advance looms large over the 2024 roster. As I proceed through talking about the roster, I’ll go position by position, but I want to keep provenness in Arizona/proximity to advancement near the front of the discussion, since that can vary so much from player to player at this level. After talking through the roster, at the end I’ll go through some players who seem to have missed the cut to move from the DSL to ACL (for now) and briefly touch on those decisions.
Let’s start with the position players.
Catchers
Cesar González
Javier Pariguan
Luis Mariñez
Seeing as seven different catchers suited up for the ACL A’s in 2023, having things pared down to a trio (for now) offers what feels like a much easier path to playing time for everyone involved.
Interestingly, the order of prospectdom here is clearly González-Pariguan-Mariñez, but distance from Stockton runs in the opposite order. The muscled-up Mariñez has played in Stockton before–he actually opened 2023 as the Ports’ cleanup hitter–but he’s never been able to solve massive strikeout trouble and bring his plus raw power into games with much consistency, even in Arizona. He also has been probably the weakest defensive catcher in the organization, perhaps in part due to lack of reps, and has seen a lot of time at first base. He does have a massive arm, though, so if Mariñez can make progress behind the plate with everything else, that would be a huge boon. With no clear first baseman on the roster, though, he might see a lot of time over there again in the early going. The clock is obviously ticking here, as Mariñez is 22 and a career .113 hitter. If he doesn’t make serious progress quickly, rather than just releasing him, I’d hope the A’s would at least take a look at what Mariñez could do on the mound, because the arm really is special.
González is clearly one of the top prospects on this roster–he’s the only one to crack the MLB Pipeline A’s Top 30, for what that’s worth–after two strong seasons in the DSL. He’s also a bat-over-glove backstop at this point, a big, physical presence who’s still growing into his body and added power to his contact-and-discipline-oriented game last year. González made tremendous swing decisions in the DSL and is now bulked up enough to have a shot at considerable success in Arizona. He’s just 19 and will probably need the full year in the ACL to be ready for full-season ball, particularly on defense, but a strong campaign could get him more fully on the radar.
Pariguan’s skillset and trajectory sit comfortably in between those of González and Mariñez–he’s 20, he spent last year in the ACL and struggled on both sides of the ball, but he’s shown flashes in a variety of areas. He’s already got the typical squat catching build, and that physicality gives Pariguan some solid pull power. He walked nearly 20% of the time last year and makes good swing decisions, and his arm is almost as good as Mariñez’s–they, along with Cole Conn, probably have the three best catching arms in the organization as far as raw arm strength is concerned. Pariguan is very raw in his receiving and blocking, though, and he also hit just .175 last year, so he needs more reps across the board at this level. I think he’s got the talent to come along defensively, and there are some building blocks at the plate as well, so there’s a chance Pariguan can make some big progress this season.
Infielders
Germán Ortíz
T.J. Schofield-Sam
Jamaliel Rosádo, Jr.
Ray Garrett
Erubiel Fuentes
There isn’t a ton to say about this group beyond Germán Ortíz, who is the obvious headliner here from a prospect perspective. It’s the 19-year-old’s second year in the ACL, and I’m going to be very interested to see how he progresses. He hit just .217/.358/.259 last year, but for a guy with no homers and a .295 career slugging percentage, he sure seemed to be hitting the ball quite hard last season, and he’s an explosive athlete in the box. The question is what position he’s going to play, as he’s seen time at all four infield spots and left field as a pro. With fewer players to compete with this year, Ortíz might get a more consistent assignment. A great start to the year could definitely get him to Stockton at some point.
I’m not sure what’s going on with Schofield-Sam, who started the year in Lansing, didn’t play for a week, came in as an injury replacement in game one of a doubleheader and singled, then was sent back to Arizona in the middle of the doubleheader. I’d have to guess there’s some sort of off-field situation that went down, but regardless, Schofield-Sam is likely a better player right now than the Lansing third base tandem of Dereck Salom and Jose Escorche, and he’s got nothing to prove in Arizona from an on-field perspective. I wouldn’t be surprised if at some point he’s moved back up there and Elvis Rijo, who replaced him on the Lugnuts roster, is moved back to Arizona.
Rosádo was the A’s 14th-round pick in 2022 out of a Puerto Rican high school. He’s the only player from that A’s draft class who has yet to make it to Stockton, as he was hurt for part of the 2023 ACL season and then didn’t hit very well when he returned. Chances are strong that he’s the everyday shortstop as play gets going. Rosádo has intriguing size and strength for the position and he showed patience at the plate last year, so if things start to come together, he could emerge as an interesting sleeper; at 20, it’s within the realm of possibility he could get to Stockton this summer as well.
Garrett and Fuentes were strong OBP-oriented performers in the DSL in 2022 and played sparingly as ACL reserves last year. They’ll get more of an opportunity to showcase what they can do now that they’re not fighting through as deep a pool of teammates for playing time. If the A’s do eventually swap Schofield-Sam and Rijo again, Rijo will be in a similar situation to Garrett and Fuentes. They have a history of defensive versatility, but players like this have a lot to prove with the bat; succeeding in the ACL requires a lot more functional strength in the box than one might need to succeed in the DSL.
Sahid Valenzuela fills out this group on a rehab assignment to open up the ACL season, and he’ll certainly be a great role model for players at this level as long as he’s there.
Outfielders
Carlos Pachéco
Reynaldo De La Paz
Joseph Rodríguez
Ángel Arévalo
Luis Freitez
This is a deeper group than the infielders, headlined by two players new to US ball in Pachéco and De La Paz. Pachéco was originally a $1 million signee, and though his subsequent .210 average across two DSL seasons doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence that that was a great investment, he’s an 80-grade runner and likely plus defender in center field who has made good swing decisions and already flashes some wiry strength. He came on down the stretch in 2023. De La Paz is the youngest player on the roster. He hit well in his DSL debut last year and offers a prototype right field frame and skillset, though he went homerless in 2023 and will have to prove he can clear fences, not just line the ball into the gaps. He’s got all sorts of time to do that, though. Neither player feels likely to make it to Stockton this year, though strong seasons could get them some Opening Day 2025 consideration as well as cementing their status as legitimate prospects.
Rodríguez, 21, is the position player–aside from whatever is going on with Schofield-Sam–who has the best case for being at a full-season affiliate right now, seeing as he hit .281/.440/.422 in his first season in Arizona last year. He’s emblematic of the sort of player who would absolutely be at a Short-Season-A affiliate right now if that level still existed, because I sort of get why the A’s wouldn’t be prioritizing Rodríguez–he doesn’t really have any standout tools. Still, he’s proven he can get on base a ton in Rookie ball and done a little of everything else–stolen a few bases, moonlighted in center field, found some gaps, hit a homer–so a credible followup could have him in Stockton in short order. If he can keep it up there, the conversation around Rodríguez changes some.
Arévalo actually did make it to Stockton last year, and he’s long been a notable name in the system–since his huge 2021 as a 17-year-old in the DSL. He’s kind of the anti-Rodríguez in that he’s got tools across the board–solid speed, arm strength, the ability to backspin the ball with some real ferocity–but he’s spent two years in Arizona trying to get them to lead to consistent performance on either side of the ball. He’s mostly been an infielder and may still get plenty of reps there–it’s easier to find playing time there than the outfield on this roster–but he’s been very error-prone with his footwork and throwing, and he’s shown a lot of in-zone swing-and-miss despite strong swing decisions and good hand-eye coordination. He’s listed as an outfielder on the roster–not that that’s worth much, since milb.com listings get notoriously outdated–but he did see time in the outfield in Stockton and that may well be his long-term defensive home. He’s still just 20 and showed signs of putting things together last year, most notably in the power department, so maybe this is the year we see Arévalo emerge. As with Ortíz, it’ll be interesting to see what position he’s primarily deployed at–almost anything is possible right now.
Freitez is on his third year at the level and has yet to make a big impression. He’s played all three outfield spots and looks destined to shuttle around behind Pachéco in center, De La Paz in right, and some mix of Rodríguez, Arévalo, and maybe Ortíz in left. He needs to show in-game power to stand out.
Pitchers
Jefferson Jean
Manuel Pérez
Donny Trocónis
Jesús Silvério
Derek Corro
Camilo Hernández
Drew Conover
Josnier Parra
Dairón De Jesús
Brayan Restituyo
Franyelson Rodríguez
Luke Anderson
José González
Felix Castro
Seth Elledge
What I’ve done here is arrange the fifteen pitchers on the roster on a sort of starter-reliever gradient.* I’m not sure if the ACL squad is going to use the same tandeming strategy as Stockton and Lansing have this year; if they do, something like a Rodríguez/Anderson/ González/Castro/Elledge bullpen is likely at season’s outset. If they go with a more traditional rotation, Jean, Pérez, and Trocónis are likely locks for it, and then it’s a question of what they want to do with Conover after his struggles throwing strikes in Stockton earlier this season. If he’s in relief for now, that would leave the final two spots** as a three-way race between Silvério, Corro, and Hernández, who all spent last season with the ACL A’s doing at least some starting.***
*This is likelihood to serve a starting role in Arizona now, not likelihood of staying a starter long term. Jean would definitely not be at the top if that were the case.
**It is of course possible they’ll use a hybrid strategy with, say, three solo starters and two tandems, or something.
***The 2023 ACL A’s often used openers, so I’m using “starting” here to mean “bulk work.”
From a prospect perspective, the headliners here are Jean and Pérez, who both can sit in the mid-90s. They’re pretty different pitchers after that, though. Jean–who, thankfully, seems to be healthy after injury ended his 2023 ACL season after two starts–is a flamethrower who is still raw in all departments other than velocity. He hasn’t been lose-the-zone-completely wild, but he’s got a lot of work to do mechanically to get to real command, and his slider and changeup both need to make significant strides if he’s going to start. Jean is just 19 and remains very projectable and fairly athletic, though, and he’s had extremely limited pro time, so a long developmental runway remains for him to progress in all those areas. Pérez is even younger–he doesn’t turn 19 until the end of August–and he’s already got a fairly polished four-pitch mix and a solid strike-throwing history in the Dominican. However, he’s more physically mature than Jean and not the same grade of athlete, so despite his youth, he’s not really a projection guy. Still, they’re the best duo of teenage pitching prospects on an ACL A’s team in quite a while.
Trocónis is the real sleeper here. The youngest pitcher on the roster at six weeks younger than Pérez, he’s a bit of a surprise add since he was only okay in the DSL last year, but he’s got a great pitcher’s frame, an easy delivery, and feel for spinning a curve. Since Trocónis seemed to be all about projection over current ability during his (admittedly perfectly decent) DSL season, perhaps the A’s pushing him to Arizona is a reflection of his projectability leading to real gains over the offseason.
Silvério and Corro return from last year’s rotation. Silvério’s been in the ACL for awhile–since mid-2021–but he missed all of 2022, which slowed his progress. He walked too many hitters in 2023–probably partly rust, partly his extra-long arm action–but sat 92-94 mph, and his offspeed pitches had their moments. He’s got to be near the front of the line to move up to Stockton, but I wonder if the best thing to do to get him to succeed there is to move him to power relief. Corro’s a little, athletic lefty who struggled in the DSL in 2022 and didn’t look ready for Arizona last year at age 18. Relief might make more sense for him pretty soon too, though he’s certainly got the athletic potential to throw a lot more strikes than he did in 2023; I wouldn’t be surprised if he settled into US ball much better this year, though he’s probably not close to ready for Stockton regardless.
The thing that starts to become clear here is that, though there’s a really interesting trio of starter prospects headlining this group, nobody’s especially ready to start games in Low-A unless Jean or Pérez get things moving in a hurry or Silvério shows much better command. The best choice for that–and Stockton is down two starters in their 10-man group as of now, leading to them having to have a really tough* bullpen day yesterday, so this may matter imminently–might actually be Camilo Hernández, who didn’t really go deep into games last year in his ACL debut but showed some starter tools. Like Corro, he was moved to Arizona despite a mediocre age-17 2022 season in the DSL, but he proved far more effective than Corro was in Arizona, working with three playable pitches and a clean, repeatable delivery. He’ll need one of those pitches to really take a step forward to get much distinctiveness, but he’s just 20, so it’s very possible.
*In that it’s really tough to have a bullpen day when your bullpen has only six pitchers in it.
Conover was starting in Stockton, but after he walked nineteen of the 50 batters he faced and hit two more, it was clear he needed to figure things out. It’s not the yips–note he threw only one wild pitch–but more that his complicated delivery proved difficult to repeat. This was the scouting report when Conover was drafted in the 11th round last year, so it’s not a shock that there’ve been hiccups, though obviously the magnitude is discouraging. Conover’s stride takes him significantly across his body, and all of his pitches really move–further, his sinker-slider identity means he’s usually aiming at the knees. In Stockton, everything was just not quite finishing–the sinker kept tailing armside off the plate, and the slider kept bouncing at 61 feet rather than making it to the mitt. Whatever fix is needed–mechanical, approach, mentality–this is a good opportunity for Conover to get it right. The question is whether the best route to that is to put him in short stints where he can just let it rip–his velocity in Stockton was down relative to his amateur days–or start him and maximize the amount of reps he gets. The life on everything Conover throws is very impressive, so whenever he can get to throwing consistent strikes, we’ll get a better sense of how it all plays.
The rest of the pitching staff consists of guys who’ve largely worked in relief, at least recently. Let’s start with the vets who are likely to move up quickly. Seth Elledge is, of course, a former big league reliever; he’s 27 and pitched for three Triple-A teams last year. He was just signed and is on a glorified rehab assignment. Luke Anderson, on the other hand, was in the Lansing bullpen last year. Current Lansing reliever and Anderson’s former college teammate Dylan Hall mentioned in a recent interview that Anderson was rehabbing from cancer, which of course means that his appearance on an active minor league roster–if that is indeed an updated status–is tremendous news. Anderson’s fastball-slider combination has been really tough to hit when he commands it, but he has struggled with wildness for most of his pro career. That’s really not important right now given what he’s been through, though. For now, it’ll be great to have him take the mound at all.
There are three relievers here who are repeating the ACL despite strong performance at the level last year: Restituyo, De Jesús, and Rodríguez. Rodríguez actually spent a lot of time in Stockton down the stretch and pitched fine there, so he’s got to be right around the top of the Ports waiting list. He’s one of the most unique pitchers in the system, sitting just 85 mph and throwing a changeup over half the time, but he’s shown excellent command in the low minors and that changeup is really good. De Jesús and Restituyo don’t really throw hard either–around 90, historically–but they both bring a lot of deception and movement. De Jesús’ hard curve was one of the most effective pitches in the A’s system last year, and Restituyo has a quality slider and changeup. De Jesús’ changeup isn’t too bad, either, and both pitchers have some pro starting experience, so it’s not inconceivable they could be tried back in that role again. They both have funky mechanical looks that would be atypical in that role, but I’d still think they’d have a better chance of getting through four innings in Stockton right now than someone like Trocónis or even perhaps Silvério. I’d really like to see all three of these guys spend most of the rest of the year in full-season ball, because they have little left to prove in Arizona and the clock is ticking on their professional service time and minor league free agency (Restituyo after 2025, De Jesús after 2026, if I'm counting right).
Felix Castro is the one pure power relief arm on the roster–he was the DSL A’s closer in 2023 and bullied hitters with his fastball. He’s got an outside chance of needing just a few outings in Arizona to convince A’s brass he should move to Stockton–Rodríguez, Franck De La Rosa, and Alejandro Manzáno did that in 2023–but he’ll most likely wait his turn behind the trio mentioned in the preceding paragraph.
José González and Josnier Parra are two 22-year-old pitch-mixing guys who’ve been used purely in relief. González has been in the ACL for a couple of years, while Parra signed at 20 and was the oldest pitcher on the DSL A’s last season. Both guys throw strikes and have some credible pitches, but they both need to find some distinctiveness to distinguish themselves from the rest of the pitchers on the roster.
7-day IL
OF Clark Elliott
C Ángel Rivéra
RHP Ríchard Fernández
INF/OF Anderson Machado
Hopefully all of these guys can be back soon. It was mysterious that Elliott wasn’t listed on the IL at a full-season affiliate, but the fact that he’s listed as IL’d here at least clarifies his status as injured rather than massively out of favor or undergoing a huge overhaul or something. It’s really unfortunate that Rivéra is hurt, because injuries have been a part of all three of his pro seasons now. He dominated the DSL in 2022 and showed flashes in Arizona last year, so he could emerge as one of the organization’s top catching prospects if he could stay on the field consistently. Fernández would likely be in the rotation if he were healthy, as he was very effective as a starter in the DSL last year. At 21, he’s old for a first-time ACLer, but he’s a great on-mound athlete with four solid pitches; he may not need much time in Arizona before he’s ready for Stockton. Machado struggled in his ACL debut last year as a four-corner utilityman and is in the same boat as Garrett and Fuentes, looking to translate a strong 2022 DSL season to the next level.
Waiting Patiently in the DR
INF Jesús Fernández
RHP Alvin Nova
C Ramón Landaéta
1B Kevin Dumé
RHP Wilfred Alvarádo
RHP Alvin Véras
OF Jonatan Yan
RHP Francis Marte
INF Reinaldo De La Cruz
OF Darling Fernández
RHP Paúl Chacón
RHP José Pínto
RHP Freilyn Guzmán
If we were still under the old 185-man minor league roster size, many or all of these players would likely be in Arizona right now. I’ve ranked them roughly in order of readiness for the ACL. I’m not going to elaborate on them a ton since they’re not really the focus of this piece–read the short-form reports for info on each–but I’ll comment on the overall roster machinations here a bit.
The A’s are, by my count, only at 157 of their 165 allotted US-ball minor league spots, and they only have 28 active players on this ACL roster (plus the rehabbing Valenzuela), so it’s fairly likely that some of these guys will be called upon to come stateside as the season progresses. It’s happened before in the A’s system–Luis Morales did it last year, Silvério and Pedro Pineda did it in 2021–but midseason DSL-to-ACL moves have been a pretty rare phenomenon, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they become more common in 2024.
The most surprising omission has got to be Jesús Fernández, who hit .300 in the Dominican last year and struck out just 6% of the time. Still, I think the organization is probably right to have Cesar González, Carlos Pachéco, and Reynaldo De La Paz make the jump over Fernández, mostly because they’ve got a lot more present strength than he does. Fernández only just turned 18, so there’s plenty of time. I’m still surprised he didn’t make it–and thus see him at the front of the line to come stateside when the need arises–but it’s very possible that promoting him would lead to the kind of rough transition Arévalo had in 2022.
But if we’re going to make it about physical maturity, then keeping the muscular Landaéta, who I thought was the best position player prospect on last year’s DSL squad, down in the Dominican doesn’t make a lot of sense, except…it’s going to be hard to find consistent playing time for him, González, and Pariguan behind the dish, to say nothing of Rivéra if he’s back soon. He only just turned 18 two weeks ago, so again, there’s no rush. Getting him playing time behind the plate is the most important thing for his development right now.
I’d like to see Alvin Nova come stateside, because he’s really fun. He’s a very lanky pitcher with a really funky low-slot delivery, and all of his pitches move all over the place. He had some success in the Dominican last year and could conceivably baffle hitters in Arizona too. Sometimes pitchers like this just prove unsolvable all the way up the chain, and other times they hit a wall once they come stateside (or at any subsequent level) and can’t ever find a way to command the ball with all the moving parts of their deliveries. At some point, we'll find out which Nova is.
After those top three, I think we go from “all else equal, this guy should be in Arizona” to “having this guy in Arizona is certainly defensible.” These guys have talent, so again, I’d rather have them getting priority in the Dominican than riding pine in Arizona, something that happened to too many players on the ACL team last year. Dumé is a huge Three True Outcomes first baseman who could probably lead the ACL team in homers if he got the chance there; he’ll likely hit cleanup in the DSL. I liked De La Cruz and Yan more than their pedestrian numbers would indicate last year–they’ve both got some real latent juice in the bat despite being smaller guys and can play legitimate up-the-middle defense. Yan’s got a good approach, too. I've never watched Fernández, as he missed almost all of his debut season with an injury, but he got $750,000 to sign in 2022 and did fine in his very limited action last year, so he's obviously worth monitoring. The pitchers all flashed interesting attributes. Marte and Véras were solid starters, Guzmán came on at the end of the year and flashed a good changeup, and Pínto and Chacón have good arm strength. Alvarádo was one of the youngest players on the team and was relatively effective as Felix Castro’s setup man, showing a four-pitch mix that makes me wonder if he could move to starting.
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It's unclear if there will be any ability to really keep up with the ACL A's on anything other than a box-score basis this season. The only reason I have much knowledge about these players beyond their stats is because the A's streamed many of the ACL & DSL A's games last season, but the streams tailed off late in the year and they haven't updated the channel in the offseason at all. Regardless, whether the streams continue into 2024 or not, they have been very cool and an invaluable resource for understanding this next wave of talent coming through the A's system.
There are definitely a number of intriguing players on this year's team, and we may yet see a number of guys move up to Stockton as the season progresses, given the early ACL start date and the lack of advancement on Opening Day. It will also be very interesting to track if, when, and how players advance to Arizona from the DSL as the season progresses and overall how much today's roster differs from what it is at season's end on July 25. Until that wave of progression happens, it may be that this is the strongest ACL A's team in quite a while because of how much proven production it returns, though given how much minor league roster dynamics have shifted overall in 2024, it's sort of hard to make clear predictions without knowing a ton of detail about how other organizations have managed everything relative to the A's.
For now, I'd advise fans to keep especially close tabs on the progress of Jean, Pérez, González, Ortíz, and De La Paz–probably the top five prospects on this roster going in–and see who else emerges.