The Oakland Athletics might not know how to win ball games but at least they have a plan for when it comes to finding out what they have in their farm system judging by their latest roster moves.
Right before dropping another matchup, this time 5-4 against the Minnesota Twins on Friday coming off the All-Star break, the A's moved all three of Lawrence Butler, Brett Harris, and Darrell Hernaiz to Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators, reported Martin Gallegos of MLB.com.
Big promotions on the Minor League side for the A’s: OF Lawrence Butler (No. 7 prospect), 3B Brett Harris (No. 12), and Darrell Hernaiz (No. 14) are all moving up to Triple-A Las Vegas.
— Martín Gallegos (@MartinJGallegos) July 14, 2023
On a higher level, the A's also made room for top-of-the-order prospects Tyler Soderstrom and Zack Gelof in their major league roster, with both (no. 1 and no. 3 prospects in the system, respectively) kids hitting the lineup on Friday and bagging a walk and a double in their debut games.
Lawrence Butler is ranked as the no. 7 prospect in the A's system while Harris (no. 12) and Hernaiz (no. 14) are also considered top-15 players in Oakland's farm by MLB Pipeline's experts.
The Oakland Athletics are promoting Lawrence Butler to the Las Vegas Aviators (AAA). pic.twitter.com/c4cyT7xrbw
— Milb Central (@milb_central) July 14, 2023
Butler appeared on the MLB Futures Game last weekend along with fellow A's prospect (and now major leaguer) Soderstrom and he's moving up while having slashed .285/.352/.465 in Double-A this season.
Harris moved from Single-A to Double-A last season while spending this year entirely at the latter level. He's moving up the ladder to Triple-A Las Vegas now boasting a .283/.399/.426 slash line.
Finally, Puerto Rico native Darell Hernaiz has put together a ridiculous .338/.393/.486 line this year while playing at Double-A Midland this year after spending last season in Baltimore's system before the A's acquired him in a trade involving Cole Irvin and Kyle Virbitsky.