S2E17: State of the A’s System, Midseason 2023

In this jam-packed midseason special, it's time to take stock of where things stand as a whole in the A's system as we prepare for an influx of new talent into the organization via the draft. Assessing exactly where Oakland's or any specific MLB organization's minor league system stacks up relative to their competition is a challenging task, but I attempt to do so in several ways, both looking at the system as a whole and many interesting (and surprising!) trends within it.

The episode is divided into three sections:

In the first section (starting at 0:00), having recently released my Midseason A's Top 50 Prospects list, I first discuss the tiers of talent in the system and how they stack up, at least on an initial vibe check. I also look at notable movers up and down the list and what areas of strength and weakness in the system the list reveals.

In the second section (starting at 49:05), I first discuss the particular challenges of coming to specific conclusions about a minor league system and the pluses and minuses of my vantage point vs. those of national prospect writers when it comes to such a task. I then take a look at how the A's system has performed this season overall in a statistical and win-loss sense and how that compares to its historical performance. Finally, I take an extended journey through assessing how the system got into its current state, dissecting the positives and negatives we can discern from the A's minor league talent acquisition history in the last decade. The conclusions I (tentatively) reach may surprise you; they've certainly snuck up on me in recent weeks, and I'm still wrestling with their strength.

The final section of the show (starting at 2:20:05) then highlights the biggest stories of the last three months of A's minor league baseball and previews key threads for the 2023 minor league season's final eight weeks.