For all the attention on the A’s current core - the players heating up, the ones slipping, and the group that has flashed big talent without quite delivering big results - the more important story may be the wave of prospects pushing toward 2027. That’s where the upside gets loud.
The A’s are looking at a 2027-28 lineup that could be formidable, even if it has only graded out as “middle of the pack” so far. The bigger issue has been the pitching, which has sat near the bottom in most statistical categories. If this team is going to make the kind of leap it wants, the answer may have to come from players arriving faster than expected.
That’s the kind of jump the A’s are trying to model after the Chicago White Sox, who climbed out of the depths and into division contention. The White Sox needed two years, not one, to go “last to first,” and they were doing it after a 121-loss season. The A’s are hoping for a similar kind of rise, even if the path won’t be identical.
There are four prospects in particular who don’t fit a normal 2027 ETA but could still have a real say in that season: Jamie Arnold, Drew Burress, Leo De Vries, and Devin Taylor.
Arnold is the most obvious one to watch because he’s a starter, and that remains the clearest need on the roster. The left-hander was drafted in 2025 and debuted in April 2026 with an aggressive jump to Double-A Midland. That assignment hit some bumps early, but Arnold has taken off since then and has already reached Triple-A.
His second-half run has been strong across the board: a 2.31 ERA in June, 3.54 in July, and 1.57 in August. He finished that surge with five shutout innings in his Pacific Coast League debut.
With a few Triple-A starts to close this season, he could even push for a rotation job in 2027 camp, though the likelier path is the Gage Jump-style “first man up” route. Either way, he looks like someone who can matter in the 2027 rotation, possibly alongside Jump, JT Ginn, and Jacob Lopez.
Burress is the kind of bat that can move quickly when it starts screaming. Just two months ago, he hadn’t even been drafted by the A’s. Now his Stockton debut has been so impressive that it’s easy to picture him opening 2027 at Double-A - or getting there almost immediately - and forcing his way to the majors during the season.
That pace might sound extreme, but the A’s have seen this movie before with Kurtz and Wilson, and Burress brings first-round pedigree of his own. In 26 games, he has hit .314/.453/.637 with seven homers and 14 stolen bases in 15 tries.
The strikeouts are still an issue, with a 28.5% K rate, and there’s a long way to go between A ball and the majors. Still, if he reaches Double-A in April and keeps producing, he could be in the big leagues in 2027 as another explosive athletic outfielder.
De Vries is on an even more accelerated track in some ways, even if his timeline should have been much longer. He began his pro career in 2024 at age 17, which would normally point to an ETA around 2029. But he’s not a normal prospect - he’s ranked among the top three in all of MLB.
Injuries to his finger and shoulder kept him from possibly getting a call in 2026. If he’s healthy when spring training arrives, the question in 2027 won’t be whether he reaches the majors. It’ll be when.
Taylor has been the hottest bat of the group, and he hasn’t slowed down at any stop. He started by hitting .292/.425/.436 in 57 games at Lansing, then took another step forward at Midland with a .323/.409/.534 line and 14 homers in 68 games. In three Triple-A games, he’s already 6-for-14 with two home runs.
There are questions about his glove in left field, but the bat is loud enough that the A’s can figure out the rest. If Taylor hits at the big league level, they can find room for the left-handed slugger even if that means leaning heavily on the DH spot, much like the Astros have done with Yordan Alvarez and the Phillies with Kyle Schwarber.
The A’s already have a promising cluster of talent in place with Kurtz at first base, Wilson at shortstop, Langeliers at catcher, Soderstrom in left, Henry Bolte in center, Gelof somewhere on the infield, and Butler looking like the player the A’s believed in enough to lock up to a multi-year extension.
Add Arnold, Burress, De Vries, and Taylor to that mix, and 2027 starts to look like a year with real star-level upside. The caveat is obvious: all of it has to be harnessed, and all of it has to stay healthy. But if these fast-trackers keep moving, they could reshape the AL West picture sooner than expected.
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Athletics Rotation Shakeup Puts Two Young Arms In A Tough Spot
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J.T. Ginn is now being evaluated for lingering soreness, adding even more uncertainty to a staff that has already been forced into adjustments. With rookie Kade Morris under consideration and Joey Estes back in the mix to handle rotation and bullpen duties, Oakland is trying to piece together innings while the long-term outlook for one of its young starters remains unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
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Two of the Athletics most promising young players have been pushed another step up the ladder, as Jamie Arnold and Devin Taylor have both landed in Triple-A Las Vegas after standing out at Double-A Midland. Arnold, the clubs No. 3 prospect, earned the move after finishing his time in Midland with a 2.43 ERA and 73 strikeouts over his final 13 starts, while Taylor, ranked No. 7 in the system, kept forcing the issue with a strong bat that played at both High-A and Double-A.
For Oakland, the timing matters as much as the production. Triple-A is where prospect buzz starts to turn into real organizational urgency, and both players are now being asked to prove they can keep carrying that momentum against a tougher level of competition. Arnolds first taste of Las Vegas went well, and Taylor has already shown he can impact a game in a hurry, leaving the As with more reason to pay close attention to how quickly each one adapts from here. [Read more 🡒]
A's Unleashed A Power Surge Seattle Couldnt Recover From
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The burst was historic for a club that has been waiting a long time for that kind of punch. Oakland had not put four balls over the fence in a single inning since April 27, 2002, and the third-inning avalanche gave the A's exactly the kind of jolt that can change the feel of a road trip, even if the game still stayed tense down the stretch. [Read more 🡒]