SPORTS

Nashville Sounds to be Oakland A's affiliate

Mike Organ
morgan@tennessean.com

When the Nashville Sounds open First Tennessee Park in April, the team will have a new major league affiliate.

The Sounds announced a two-year Player Development Contract with the Oakland A's on Thursday. The Milwaukee Brewers' Triple-A affiliate had called Nashville home since 2005.

What will it mean for the caliber of play on the field?

"Coming into the season both of those teams (A's, Brewers) were toward the bottom of our rankings in our prospect handbook," said "Baseball America" editor in chief John Manuel. "We had the A's 23rd and Milwaukee 29th."

The Sounds and the A's issued a joint press release on Thursday. However, they are holding off further comment until Tuesday when they will hold a media event at Omni Hotel downtown.

"The Oakland A's are delighted to enter into this new association with Frank Ward and the Nashville Sounds," A's Vice President and General Manager Billy Beane said in the release. "As we did our due diligence of available Triple-A markets, it became very clear that Nashville was the most attractive."

From Sounds owner Frank Ward: "We are thrilled to begin this new relationship with the A's, who hold an exciting future on both the major league and minor league levels," said in the release. "Oakland has an outstanding track record of success at the Triple-A level. We're looking forward to watching their next tier of stars develop at our state-of-the-art First Tennessee Park."

The Sounds posted a 77-67 record this past season and spent 100 of the 152 days in first place in the Pacific Coast League, but failed to make the playoffs.

Manuel said that the A's affiliate may have a difficult time duplicating the Brewers' affiliate's success this season.

The A's traded two of their last three first-round draft picks – Addison Russell (2012) and Bill McKinney (2013) – for Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija at the last trade deadline, in an effort to strengthen the major league team proved they were trying to make a pennant run this season.

"The thing is, Oakland lived for this year," Manuel said. "When you trade your last two first-round picks, you're going to have a picked over farm system."

The A's Double-A team, however, offers some promise. The Midland RockHounds won the Texas League championship.

After finishing 62-78 in 2013, Midland went 77-63, which was the seventh-best record in the 43-year history of the franchise.

In terms of prospects, three of the players on the A's top 10 prospects list, according to MLB.com, were on the Midland roster at the end of the season. They will likely move up to Nashville in 2015.

Pitcher Raul Alcantara, the A's No. 7 top prospect, infielder Mac Muncy (No. 9) and catcher Bruce Maxwell (No. 10) were in Double-A.

Two others – shortstop Daniel Robertson (No.1 ) and third baseman Matt Chapman (No. 4) – split time between Double-A and the Advance A Stockton Ports in the California League.

That compares to two of the Brewers top 10 prospects – outfielder Tyrone Taylor (No. 1) and shortstop Orlando Arcia (No. 2) – who were in Double-A at Huntsville and pitcher Taylor Jungmann (No. 10), who was with the Sounds.

Former Tennessee Tech outfielder Chad Oberacker played at Midland this past season where he batted .220 with two home runs and 20 RBIs.

The prospects at Single-A Stockton Ports, Manuel said, should make Sounds fans optimistic about the future, most likely the 2016 season.

"They do have a talented team in high Class A," Manuel said. "Matt Olson, who is a first baseman from Georgia, hit 37 home runs in the Cal League and was among the minor league leaders. Robertson is a player they really like; good power for a shortstop, draws a lot of walks, is rangy and has the chance to be an athletic infielder who can hit."

Manuel also mentioned former Virginia Tech infielder Chad Pinder and third baseman RenatoNunex, who hit 29 home runs this past season as prospects to keep an eye on.

"It is the Cal(ifornia) League and it can be a little bit hyper-offensive, but when you're looking at the A's organization talent level, it is not particular high in the minor leagues because they went for broke at the big league level with all the trades they've made," Manuel said. "But they do have talent. I would just say that it's more concentrated on the lower levels."

The A's become the six different major league affiliate since the Sounds began playing Triple-A baseball in 1985. The others were: Detroit Tigers (1985-86), Cincinnati Reds (1987-92), Chicago White Sox (1993-97), Pittsburgh Pirates (1998-2004) and the Brewers (2005-14).

The Brewers reportedly will move its Triple-A fanchise to Colorado Springs.

Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 and on Twitter at @MikeOrganWriter.