A’s Top Prospect Leo De Vries To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

Athletics top infield prospect Leo De Vries will undergo an anterior labrum repair on his right shoulder, reports Bill Moriarity of A’s Farm. The procedure can come with an eight-month recovery timeline, making it quite likely he’ll open next season on the injured list. De Vries is a 19-year-old shortstop/third baseman who played the entire season at Double-A Midland. The switch-hitting infielder connected on 13 home runs with a .290/.378/.458 slash line despite being nearly five years younger than the average player at the level. It’s the kind of production the A’s expected from an elite prospect who headlined their return from San Diego for four and a half seasons of Mason Miller. Baseball America currently ranks De Vries the #3 prospect in the game behind Milwaukee’s Jesús Made and Boston’s Franklin Arias. MLB Pipeline slots De Vries second after Made. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel had him fourth behind Made, Arias, and Seattle’s Kade Anderson last month. De Vries will surely remain the A’s top prospect but could drop a few spots on those overall lists in the offseason as a hedge against the injury. It’s another significant injury in what turned out to be a nightmare season for the A’s. Injuries to Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers, Jacob Wilson, Brent Rooker and Tyler Soderstrom absolutely decimated the MLB lineup. All but Langeliers are shut down for the rest of this year. Wilson, Rooker, and Soderstom required surgeries. De Vries wasn’t going to factor into the major league mix this season even if he’d finished the year healthy. He doesn’t need to be added to the 40-man roster to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft, so the A’s wouldn’t have burned the offseason roster spot (or made him ineligible for minor league play if there’s an in-season lockout). De Vries might’ve finished this year at Triple-A and entered Spring Training with a chance at breaking camp, though. That’s no longer on the table. The A’s already figured to be in the market for help at second or third base this winter, which should be even more of a priority now. Mauricio Dubón, Luis Rengifo and Edmundo Sosa are among the utility types who’ll hit the market. Alec Bohm, Ha-Seong Kim and Jonathan India are reclamation free agents who’ll likely be looking at one-year deals. View Comments (6)