A's Prospect Luis Morales Makes Full-Season Pro Debut with Stockton Ports
Back in January, the Oakland A's signed arguably the best pitcher on the international market to a $3 million deal. That pitcher, 20-year-old Luis Morales, hails from Cuba and comes with a fastball that flirts with triple digits. Pipeline had him as the fifth-best prospect overall in that class.
On Friday night with the Ports he tossed three scoreless frames in Stockton, allowing one hit, walking three, and striking out five in his full-season pro debut. Ports play-by-play broadcaster Alex Jensen tweeted after the game that Morales was hitting 97 consistently, even as the outing went into his third inning of work.
At 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, he's likely going to add some weight in the coming years to help with his durability. FanGraphs has him ranked as the #11 prospect in the A's system, and said of the right-hander, "the raw material for an impact starter is here."
Morales should be an interesting arm to keep an eye on in the A's system. Of the pitchers on the A's prospect list to not make their debut in Oakland, only Royber Salinas, acquired from the Braves in the Sean Murphy deal, ranks higher than him at #9. Ken Waldichuk (#2), Mason Miller (#3), and Kyle Muller (#6) are ahead of Morales on FanGraphs' list, and that is mostly due to him still being an unknown at this point.
As he gets more starts in Stockton under his belt, there will be a better understanding of the player he is, and the player he could become, and we could see him move up or down from where he is currently ranked ahead of the next release of top prospect lists.
Another interesting pitching prospect will be taking the mound for the Ports on Saturday night, as 23-year-old righty Gunnar Hoglund makes his ninth start of the season. Hoglund was part of the return in the Matt Chapman trade with the Toronto Blue Jays last year. At the time of the trade Hoglund was still recovering from Tommy John surgery, but was also the 19th overall selection in the 2021 Draft less than a year before he was moved. He made his professional and A's debut last July before a biceps strain shut him down for the rest of the '22 campaign.
Injuries delayed the start to his 2023 season until the end of May, but he has made a start a week since then. In 27.1 innings this year Hoglund holds a 7.24 ERA with a 1.65 WHIP. His command has been pretty decent, allowing just six walks, but he's getting hit pretty hard, allowing 39 hits and holding a .336 batting average against this season.
Pipeline had this to say of Hoglund before the season began, "A quality strike-thrower with good stuff, all indications are that Hoglund has what it takes to develop into a starter, with a floor of a back-of-the-rotation type, though he'll need to get past the recent health issues."
The injuries obviously present some concern, but with his floor being "a back-of-the-rotation type" there's plenty of intrigue here. Both Morales and Hoglund are a ways off from the big leagues, but with Mason Miller (who has had his own injury issues) and Luis Medina showing glimpses of their talent this season in Oakland, there is just enough there to start dreaming of a pretty decent rotation a few years down the road.