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.

He Can Hit: Is Miles Head a top Oakland prospect or just another minor leaguer? (Photo Credit: Powershowcase.com)

Over the next couple of days Swingin’ A’s will take a closer look at some of the prospects the Athletics scored in the Trevor Cahill, Gio Gonzalez, and Andrew Bailey trades. Next on our list is prospect Miles Head, whom the A’s acquired in the Bailey trade. 

Relax, A’s fans. Billy Beane and the A’s appear to have run out of trade chips. Oakland’s December exodus was painful, but it is, in my mind, finally over. The A’s could trade a few other players, but the big trade chips are now off the table.

Now, it is up to Beane and the rest of the team’s front office to stay the course of this recent rebuild. The A’s have been in this position before, but Beane’s execution has been shaky at best in recent years. That Matt Holliday trade from a few years ago still has many people scratching their heads in confusion.

Oakland, in trading away their biggest players, have replenished their farm system with a few good names. Those names, though, need to stay in Oakland and out of the trade rumors.

Beane did well in both the Cahill and Gonzalez trades, but people were less impressed by the Bailey deal. The A’s scored top prospects with the Cahill and Gonzalez trades, but the team didn’t get as much from Boston in exchange for All-Star closer Bailey. (more…)