Oakland Athletics Top 10

By Scott Wasserman

1- Mario Encarnacion, OF Signed out of the Dominican Republic in 1994, Mario Encarnacion displays terrific athletic ability. At 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, the righthander can hit for average and power, controls a powerful arm in right or center field, runs well on the field and basepaths, giving him a promising "Five-Tool" talent. Right now Encarnacion has trouble controlling the strike zone and will have problems hitting breaking balls, but can smash the fastball and often hit well to the opposite field. His approach and attitude toward the game is great. Last season Encarnacion set career highs in homers (21) and RBI (88) between Midland double A and Vancouver triple-A. Finishing the season fourth in the Texas League with 18 dingers, 69 runs scored, and placing fifth in the league with 71 RBI to earn him the honors on the Texas League All Star Team. Encarnacion is known to strike out an enormous amount with four straight 100 plus strikeout season, but this season is no exception with him striking out over one time a game. The 22-yaer-old is close to reaching the major leagues, but to find true success the youngster will need to find a way to change his approach at the plate to allow further success commanding the strike zone.

2- Jason Hart, 1B In the fifth round of the 1998 draft the Athletics chose a hard-hitting first baseman out of Southwest Missouri State, Jason Hart. After a fulfilling collegiate junior season hitting .416-28-91 he debuted with short season class-A. At 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds the currently 22-year-old took on the Northwest League hitting .258-20-69 with a league-leading total in homeruns and RBI to give him the league MVP honors. With a great summer in 1998 he continued his success in high class-A California League with Modesto hitting .305 with 48 doubles and 123 RBI ranking seventh out of all minor leaguers and league leading numbers in RBI and doubles. Mostly pull hitter, Hart has great instincts and patience when handling the strike zone, but defensively and on the basepaths the righthander is poor and will likely not find a sure future with the Athletics at either DH or 1B with Gambi and other top prospects ahead of him filling those roles.

3- Ryan Ludwick, OF Similar to Hart, Ryan Ludwick is a proven collegiate level hitter with excellent power. At 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds, the UNLV graduate was considered first round talent with a great showing on the USA Team in the summer before the 1999 season, but his power did not carry on to his junior season and he fell to the second round. Throwing with his left and batting on the right side, Ludwick is the younger brother of former righthander of the Marlins, but was included in the Mark McGwire deal and threw with Oakland. He can hit for average and power, but has poor command of the strike zone and will need to learn to bring better discipline and patience at the plate with a refined swing. The 21-year-old has a great arm, adequate speed, and good overall defensive ability in the outfield with the skills to play either center or right. His makeup and workhorse attitude makes him easy to coach. In 1999 he took on the California League, considerably high for a professional debut, with Modesto and finished hitting .275-4-34 in 171 at bats. Ludwick will be allowed to progress on his own and will likely find a future in the big leagues.

4- Chad Harville, RHP With the departure of righthander Jesus Colome to Tampa bay, Barry Zito and Mark Mulder of the majors and the injury plagued seasons of Eric DuBose and Chris Enochs, this 5-foot-10 and 180 pound righthander will take over the role as the Athletics top pitching prospect. At a small size Chad Harville doesn't seem overpowering, but when that 98 MPH fastball whizzes by and the sharp biting slider tails away from your right-handed bat, you feel an intimidating factor on the mound. With the development of a sinker to his available pitches, Harville could become a future top closer in the big leagues due to the confidence, attitude, and aggressive nature needed to pitch in the late innings to close out the ball game. Drafted out of Memphis University in the second round of the 1997 draft with 2 two all-conference selections, he was moved to the bullpen in the 1998 season and quickly became a presence on the mound in class-A through triple-A. At the end of the 1999 season the 23-year-old got a brief stint with Oakland, but was hit hard due to inconsistency and poor command of the strike zone.

5- Miguel Olivo, C All you can say is wow when Olivo throws down to second base from behind the plate. His arm has been compared to maybe the best, Ivan Rodriguez, and with raw talent, a strong body, quick actions at the backstop, and good contact hitting instincts with a little pop, Olivo may become the future catcher for the Athletics. at 6-foot-2 200 pounds, this Dominican was taken by the A's out of his homeland in 1996 and remained in the Dominican Republic for another year to play in the country’s summer baseball league. In 1998 he was sent to rookie level Arizona League and was a all star after hitting .311-2-23 with 11 doubles, three triples , and 30 runs in 164 at bats. With a promotion to Modesto in 1999, Olivo hit over .300 again with totals of .305-9-42, 46 runs, 13 doubles, and six triples in 243 at bats. With the inability to fluently speak English makes it tougher to communicate with pitchers. The 21-year-old still needs work with the strike zone and is currently a pull hitter, but is improving offensively as a whole. Olivo has plenty of time to develop and with catchers A.J. Hinch and Ramon Hernandez ahead of him he may be under rated and may not be given as big of a chance to prove himself. This year Olivo is taking on Modesto once again to advance offensively.

6- Jose Ortiz, 2B Considered a decent prospect before 1999, as a 17-year-old he started out his career with rookie-level Athletics after a season in 1995 with the Dominican Summer League program hitting .300 with 32 walks and a team leading nine homeruns. With the AZL A's, Ortiz hit .330-4-25 with a league leading 43 runs, .530 slugging percentage, and tied in the league with 24 extra base hits. He was named the AZL player of the week August 26-31 and was promoted to Modesto for one regular season game. In 1997 he hit .245-16-58 with 25 doubles, 16 homeruns, and 22 stolen bases in 497 at bats for single-A Modesto. In 1998 Ortiz took on double-A Huntsville and finished hitting .277-6-55 with 24 doubles, 22 stolen bases, and 48 walks in 354 at bats despite a broken left hand that plagued his season. He took on AFL and hit .327-4-11 in 29 games for Peoria. In 1999 this 22-year-old was the primary shortstop for triple-A Vancouver and finished hitting .284-9-45 with 29 doubles, 13 stolen bases, and 66 runs in 377 at bats. Ortiz has good speed, strike zone judgement, decent tools in the middle infield, hit for contact and power, and an okay arm. At 5-foot-9 and 175 pounds, Ortiz may find a spot soon on the Athletics with a great season so far with Sacramento of the International League.

7- Eric Byrnes, OF As a junior in the 1997 draft, Byrnes was chosen by the Astros as their fourth round selection after hitting .332 with 17 homeruns and 19 steals. He turned down their offer and returned to UCLA and hit .332 with 14 homeruns and 30 steals as a senior and was a three-year All Pac 10 performer and drafted in the eighth round by the Athletics. This left fielder has a good arm, great speed, a little pop in is swing, but not enough to become a right field prospect, uses the entire field at the plate, and has an intense approach with great work ethic toward the game. Byrnes is quite athletic and at 6-foot-2, 200 pounds, the 23-yaer-old righthander debuted in 1998 and hit .314 for Southern Oregon, and was promoted to Visalia and hit .426 with a combined 11 dingers in both leagues. In 1999 Byrnes played for Modesto and won the batting crown and at the time was leading the league in runs, 86, and hits, 121, despite missing almost half the year after a promotion to double-A where he struggled a bit. After two professional seasons Byrnes has hot a combined .324 with 51 stolen bases and shown great strike zone judgement. In 2000 Byrnes has still been hitting for average.

8- Angel Berroa, SS The Dominican Republic native is another hard hitting middle infielder and has great defensive tools, good range, impressive strike zone judgement for a youngster, and fantastic speed, and currently only needs more experience. The 20-year-old has great potential and is low in the system so will have more time to develop. His defense has been a little rusty this season, but is hitting considerably well. Last season Berroa hit .290 with 16 walks and only 26 strikeouts in 169 at bats in the Arizona League. He is behind some other top infielders including Josue Espada and major leaguer Miguel Tejada. I feel Berroa will have a great future and will eventually hit in the double digits in the home run category.

9- Esteban German, 2B Signed out of the Dominican Republic in 1998 this 5-foot-10, 180 pounder has excellent speed, ability to take a walk, makes decent contact, and is an exciting player to watch at 21 years of age. German's defense is inconsistent, but has the necessary range and an equipped arm to play in the middle infield with a bit more work. The righthander mostly hits to right field, does not have adequate power, and strikes out at a considerably high rate. In the California League, German was the leader in walks (102), second in runs (107), triples (12), and steals (40), but was second out of all minor leaguer second basemen with 38 errors in 110 games. The year before German hit .307 with league leading numbers in runs (52), steals (40), and triples (10) to receive Arizona League All-star honors. Currently German is with Visalia and once again is showing extremely good speed, and is improving a bit on his defense.

10- Eric DuBose, LHP In the 1997 draft, the athletics chose DuBose out of Mississippi State as their first-round selection. In 1998 DuBose was a combined 13 game winner with seven losses between class-A and double-A. With a disappointing 1999 season due to tendinitis and a sore arm, his stock fell and is now not considered the top-of-the-rotation starter as he used to be going 4-2, 5.49 in 14 starts, 21 games, one save, 44 walks, 68 strikeouts in 77 innings pitched. DuBose has an excellent curveball and a low-90s fastball, but has problems throwing strikes and is learning a change up. The possibility of a decent change would able DuBose to keep hitters off balance and not always looking for only two pitches. At 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, he throws his pitches from different angles that makes it easy for hitters to know the pitch, and his work habits are poor. The 23-year-old lefthander was converted to the bullpen and is currently pitching with Midland of the Texas league in the double-A level.

Honorable Mention:

Gerald Liard, C- Drafted in the 1998 draft out of the second round from Cypress HS, CA, the youngster signed late before attending Junior College. Liard can hit for a bit of contact, but not much power, great defense with good control of the game behind the plate, decent speed, and a good arm. The 19-year-old has great potential, but needs to develop more on his offensive game. In 1999 at short-season Northwest League, Liard hit .285-2-39 with seven doubles, two triples, 28 walks, 43 strikeouts in 228 at bats for Southern Oregon. The 6-foot-2 180 pound righthander is currently with Visalia after a short stint in the AZL.

Chris Enochs, RHP- Out of West Virginia in the 1997 draft, the A's took Enochs in the first round. With a great start in his debut with Southern Oregon and Modesto in 1997 going 3-0, 2.78 in 45.1 innings and striking out 45 with only 12 walks, he was later plagued with arm troubles, and frustrating times in 1998 and tendinitis in 1999. Despite problems after his debut he finished 98 going 9-10,m 4.74 with 100 strikeouts, 64 walks, in 26 starts and 148 innings. With a low to mid-90s sinking fastball and a decent curveball, developing a change could be a main ingredient to future success for Enochs. 1999 was disappointing going 3-5, 10.00 with Midland and 0-0, 4.91 with Visalia in four starts. With some kinks getting worked out in his mechanics, Enochs entered a critical 2000 season with Visalia and has been okay. At 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, the 24-year-old righthander is aggressive and will likely find a way into the major leagues if injuries can be avoidable.