Miles Ahead of the Pack

The second member of the Athletics organization to find himself on the top 115 prospects list over at Seedlings to Stars is 1B/3B Miles Head.  He comes in at 104 on the list, and would probably be even higher if he had been able to keep up his scorching hot numbers with the Stockton Ports.  Nevertheless, Head has shown a serious ability to hit that if it continues to develop can be a centerpiece in an Athletics infield for years to come.

Ben Cherington sure wishes he could have Miles Head back. (Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports)

Let’s take a look though at his time with the Stockton Ports first.  In 293 PA he hit a ridiculous .382/.433/.715 with 18 home runs, a wRC+ of 190, an ISO of .333, his BABIP though was a sky high .431 so some of his success could be attributed to some good fortune.  His production earned him a promotion to Double A Midland where things didn’t quite go as smoothly.

With the Rockhounds Miles Head didn’t exactly struggle, but he didn’t light up the stat sheet quite like he did in Stockton.  His .272/.338/.404 line over 234 PA looks like a completely different player than the one he posted in Single A, and for the most part he seemed like a different player.  His 109 wRC+, and his .131 ISO jump out as having gigantic differences to what he showed before.  It seemed that he wasn’t seeing the ball well in Double A, as his K% jumped from 18.8 to 32.1.  He was flailing at the ball, and he wasn’t making contact.

If you look at his career though this seems to be his pattern, once he adjusts to a level he excels there and gets promoted.  He suffers as bit of a setback as he finishes the season there.  The following season though he makes the adjustment to the higher level of competition  and excels once again.  This may make for a long process of making it to the Show if he continues on this pattern, but once he does the outlook will be bright.

In 2013 Miles Head will likely start the season in Double A Midland with the Rockhounds, the Texas League is generally hitter friendly, so I expect him to get his numbers back up to par.  That doesn’t mean posting the rather insane numbers he did in Stockton last year, but somewhere in the .300/.375/.550 range would be more than satisfactory for the 21 year old.  The good news is that time is on his side still, and even if he takes it slow he could still reach Oakland by age 24.

The trade that sent Andrew Bailey and Ryan Sweeney to the Boston Red Sox for Josh Reddick, Miles Head, and Raul Alcantara would have been a success based on Reddick’s production alone.  But the emergence of Miles Head as a legitimate corner infield prospect has to have Billy Beane and co. chuckling about fleecing Ben Cherington and his crew in Boston on this deal.  Miles Head will be one Athletics prospect to watch in 2013 without a doubt.