Inside The As

A's Prospect Among Those Added to Team USA Roster for Premier12 Tournament

Jason Burke

Jun 1, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of an Oakland Athletics hat and glove on the field against the Atlanta Braves in the sixth inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images
Jun 1, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of an Oakland Athletics hat and glove on the field against the Atlanta Braves in the sixth inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images
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A's prospect Colby Thomas, who is coming off a breakout campaign in the team's system, is one of the myriad of top players across baseball that have been added to the Team USA roster ahead of the third World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier12™ tournament. Thomas is currently ranked as the A's No. 7 prospect by MLB Pipeline.

Thomas, 23, was recently named the A's top hitting prospect for 2024 after batting a combined .277 with a .342 OBP and 31 homers between Double-A Midland and Triple-A Las Vegas. There is a good chance that Thomas finds himself in the discussion for a call-up in 2025, especially if he can work on lowering his strikeout rate from where it ended up (30.3%) last season.

As for the tournament itself, Team USA will be a part of Group A, and will be one of six clubs that will be competing in the group stage of the tournament from November 9-14 in Guadalajara and Tepic, Mexico. The top two teams from the group will advance to the Super Round in Tokyo, Japan, from November 21-24.

The first base coach for Team USA is also a player that many A's fans have fond memories of, and that is Jemile Weeks, who played for Oakland from 2011-13 and was a huge bright spot in an otherwise down 2011 campaign. As a rookie he hit .303 with a .340 OBP and a 110 OPS+. Weeks got a bit of run in 2012 after his breakout campaign, but struggled to meet the same marks he set for himself the year prior, finishing with a 73 OPS+.

After playing in just eight games in 2013, Weeks was traded to the Baltimore Orioles ahead of the 2014 campaign in exchange for Jim Johnson, who is remembered by A's fans for completely different reasons.

Anyway, the US team has finished in second (2015) and fourth (2019) in their first two tries, so they will be looking for their first tournament win this time around.

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Jason Burke
JASON BURKE

Jason is the host of the Locked on A's podcast, and the managing editor of Inside the A's. He's a new father and can't wait to take his son to his first baseball game at the Coliseum. 

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