These five American League West prospects will be must-watch viewing during the 2020 MLB season.
Opening week is here and while fans won’t be flocking to MLB stadiums anytime soon to celebrate and take in their first sights and sounds of baseball, there will still be live baseball on TV every single night for the next few months.
In anticipation of what is sure to be a short, yet exciting season of baseball, we’re taking a team-by-team look at one (or two) prominent prospects from each organization who is primed to play a prominent role in 2020.
Our American League East and Central division breakdowns can be found below.
- AL East: Nate Pearson leads a group of intriguing prospects set to debut in 2020.
- AL Central: Rookie of the Year favorites and more to watch this season.
Oakland A’s- RHP Jesus Luzardo
Could the Oakland A’s make a deep playoff run this season? After winning 97 games last season, don’t count out the A’s as a real contender in 2020.
Oakland was expecting to have their top three prospects all on the Opening Day roster this year and while A.J. Puk will begin the year sidelined for a few weeks, both the A’s top-ranked prospect, LHP Jesus Luzardo, and second-ranked prospect, catcher Sean Murphy, will be on the initial 30-man roster.
Luzardo is a bit behind schedule, due to a positive COVID-19 test at the start of summer camp, but is expected to begin the season out of the bullpen and slowly build up his innings and eventually enter the starting rotation.
He was nearly flawless in his first outing of 2020, throwing three shutout relief innings while striking out two and allowing just one hit against the Angels.
Armed with a four-pitch mix, including a mid-90’s fastball that can touch 98+ and one of the more dangerous changeups in the game, Luzardo is a future top of the rotation starter in Oakland once he’s healthy and able to get some major league innings under his belt.
Luzardo made his MLB debut in 2019, striking out 16 hitters across 12 innings and allowing just two runs on five hits.
Oakland also enters 2020 with a trio of intriguing catchers, including top prospect Sean Murphy. Murphy is line to get the majority of starts behind the plate (ahead of Austin Allen and Jonah Heim) after making his MLB debut last season. Murphy posted an .899 OPS with four home runs in 20 games in Oakland and has plus-defensive tools across the board behind the plate.
By the end of the season, Luzardo and Murphy will be one of the more exciting duos to watch in the American League.