Off to the races everyone!
It’s that time of year again! Athletics Nation’s annual Community Prospect List time, where you, the fans of our A’s, will get to vote for who is ranked among the farm system’s best and brightest prospects. This year we’ll be going as far as the top-25 in the system. starting with the top prospect and wrapping it up with the #25 spot.
The process for this public vote is explained below. Please take a moment to read this before participating:
- Please only vote for one. The player with the most votes at the end of voting will win the ranked spot. The remaining four players move on to the next ballot where they are joined by a new nominee.
- In the comments, below the official voting, the community will nominate players to be put onto the ballot for the next round. The format for your comment should be “Nomination: Player Name”.
- If a prospect is traded, his name will be crossed out, and all other players will be moved up a space. If a prospect is acquired, a special vote will be put up to determine where that player should rank.
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We will start out with five nominees vying for the top spot in our rankings. The candidates for the top prospect in the Athletics’ farm system are the cream of the crop in the organization. Shortstop Leo De Vries is widely considered one of the best prospects in the entire sport and is a potentially franchise-altering player. It took a lot to pry him away from San Diego but he could be a center piece for a future playoff contender. The same could be said for left-handed pitchers Jamie Arnold and Gage Jump, both of whom were selected by MLB Pipeline as two of the top left-handers in the entirety of the sport recently.
If you lend more weight to players who are actually on the cusp of making it to the big leagues, you may end up voting for top outfield prospect Henry Bolte, who stole 44 bags last year and offers a different aspect than what the A’s offense usually produces. He could be a backup plan in center field if Denzel Clarke’s bat isn’t quite up to snuff. Right-hander Braden Nett, who came over to the A’s organization along with De Vries, spent all of last year in Double-A and posted encouraging results. It wouldn’t be a shock of the Athletics, who have been aggressive with their prospects in recent years, see him succeed at Triple-A next year and decide to get an early look at the righty.
Here’s a quick rundown on each one — the scouting grades (on a 20-to-80 scale) and scouting reports come from MLB Pipeline (last updated early-2026).
Nominees on the current ballot:
Leodalis De Vries, SS
Expected level: Double-A | Age: 19
2025 stats (A+/AA): 536 PA, .255/.355/.451, 28 doubles, 8 triples, 15 HR, 74 RBI, 66 BB, 107 K, 11 SB
MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:
Scouting grades: Hit: 60 | Power: 55 | Run: 55 | Arm: 55 | Field: 55 | Overall: 60
A switch-hitter, De Vries already shows an exquisite knowledge of the zone and will take his walks like he’s a player many years older. He needed just a little bit more exposure to California League arms before making the adjustment to their quality, and that speaks well to how he’ll handle higher levels, something he continued to show in the Midwest League with low strikeout and high walk rates at the time of the trade. After getting to his power more from the right side in 2024, with seven of his 11 homers coming from that side despite far fewer plate appearances, he flipped the script in 2025, with seven of his eight homers coming left-handed before he was sent to the A’s. He has more than enough bat speed from both sides of the plate where splits aren’t a major concern.
A former point guard in basketball, the Dominican Republic native is an agile runner and efficient on the basepaths. He has the range and hands to handle shortstop well, and even though he got some looks at second base in the Fall League, he’s played shortstop exclusively this season. There’s enough arm strength here to keep him on the left side of the dirt anyways. De Vries plays like a prospect hungry for challenges, which has served him well during his age-18 season.
Gage Jump, LHP
Expected level: Triple-A | Age 22
2025 stats (A+/AA): 3.28 ERA, 24 starts, 112 2/3 IP, 131 K, 34 BB, 7 HR, 2.96 FIP
MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:
Scouting grades: Fastball: 55 | Curveball: 55 | Slider: 60 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 55 | Overall: 55
Jump’s fastball is difficult for opposing hitters to pick up with an arm angle that creates some deception. The heater sits about 92-94 mph and can reach up to 97 with good carry up in the zone. His upper-70s curveball has significant downer break, and his low-80s slider has cutting action. His fading low-80s changeup is used far less than his other three offerings.
Listed at 6-foot, Jump lacks the size of a typical starter, though his growth since the surgery and ability to generate his stuff with arm speed helps his potential outlook as a long-term starter. The ceiling of a mid-rotation starter is there, though some scouts believe he might be better suited in a bullpen role. To start out, the A’s will develop him as a starter and look to see him maintain good health and strike-throwing ability.
Jamie Arnold, LHP
Expected level: Single-A | Age 21
2025 stats: None (Athletics’ 2025 1st-round draft pick)
MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:
Scouting grades: Fastball: 60 | Slider: 65 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 55 | Overall: 55
A left-hander with a rangy body and a loose, whippy arm, Arnold has seen his stuff tick up since leaving Jesuit High School for Tallahassee. Coming from a lower arm slot and flat approach angle, his fastball, which was 88-92 mph in high school, now sits in the 94-95 mph range and touches 97, with a ton of life to miss bats. While his slider can be a little wide at times, the 82-85 mph sweeping breaking ball is a second plus offering that elicited a 43 percent miss rate in 2024 and ’25 combined. His changeup is his third pitch, and he doesn’t need it much, but there’s some feel for it.
Arnold has shown the ability to fill up the strike zone and limit damage while maintaining his stuff deep into outings. With the funky arm slot, his stuff has drawn some comparisons to Chris Sale, a reason why people think it shouldn’t take him too long to join a big league rotation.
Henry Bolte, OF
Expected level: Triple-A | Age 22
2025 stats (AA/AAA): 488 PA, .284/.385/.427, 20 doubles, 6 triples, 9 HR, 56 RBI, 57 BB, 141 K, 44 SB
MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:
Scouting grades: Hit: 45 | Power: 55 | Run: 65 | Arm: 50 | Field: 50 | Overall: 45
Bolte is a tooled-up athlete who continues to fill out his big 6-foot-3 frame. His impressive raw power continues to show up in the Minors, though there is still a real concern over his swing-and-miss and high strikeout rate as he continues to struggle with offspeed stuff out of the zone. The A’s have worked with him to revamp his swing in order to improve his bat path and cover more of the zone, which has produced slight improvements in those areas, though there is still plenty of work to be done.
Another shining tool for Bolte is his near-elite speed, which was on display last season as he swiped 46 bags. That speed also comes in handy on defense, combining that with a strong arm that makes him a solid outfielder at all three spots. Further refining is required, but he remains an exciting talent with a very high ceiling who continues to steadily advance through the system.
Braden Nett, RHP
Expected level: Triple-A | Age 23
2025 stats (AA): 3.75 ERA, 24 starts, 105 2/3 IP, 116 K, 48 BB, 8 HR, 3.77 FIP
MLB Pipeline grades and scouting report:
Scouting grades: Fastball: 55 | Curveball: 55 | Slider: 60 | Changeup: 50 | Control: 55 | Overall: 55
While working around the injuries, Nett has continued to show stellar velocity, touching as high as 99 mph in the Minor Leagues last season. He typically sits 95-97 mph and gets swing-and-miss up in the zone thanks to ample carry. He also throws a tight 81-84 mph slider that ran a 38 percent whiff rate in ’24 and a sharper 90-92 mph cutter that can catch hitters off guard. He’ll mix in an upper-70s curveball with more vertical drop and he’s scrapped a low-80s splitter in favor of a much more effective 88 mph kick-change that really neutralizes lefties.
Nett has some effort in his delivery, and the 2025 season (pre-trade) was the first time he’d posted a walk rate below 13 percent at any Minor League stop. Combine that with the early injury concerns, and it’s easy to think he could be a reliever eventually. But his arsenal is deep enough, and his stuff is promising enough — when combined with strides taken this season — to keep landing him in a starting role in the upper Minors.
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Programming Note: Each CPL vote will run for around 48 hours, so don’t delay making your selections!
Category: General Sports
