The Athletics hired Cam Castro as the club's GM partially for the role he played in player development with the Milwaukee Brewers, and the impact he had on their pitching development in particular. All eyes will be focused on the A's own pitching dev department in the coming year, as the team has a long way to go before its staff is even league-average.

Baseball America recently released an entire list of players across the minor leagues who touched 100 miles per hour, and the A's franchise ranked tied for 12th with six different players. The Pittsburgh Pirates had the most with 12 players.

One interesting tidbit is that the Boston Red Sox, where the A's new President of Baseball Operations Taylor Smith comes from, and the Brewers produced just five and three 100-mph hurlers, ranking in the bottom half of the league. The Brewers did have six big-league players hit 100 mph or more in 2026, while only three minor leaguers reached that feat. 

Here are the six players who hit 100 in the minors with the A's in 2026:

Alvarado makes two appearances on the list after touching 102.2 mph with his four-seamer, and 100.3 mph with his two-seamer. He averaged 98.5 mph with the A's, but it should also be noted that pitches in Las Vegas tend to get a bump in velocity. This came to light after the A's week in Vegas back in June.

Alvarado had made his return to the roster in Houston that month, averaging 98.2 mph, but when the A's went to Vegas to face the Brewers and Colorado Rockies, he averaged 100.3 mph, 100.6 mph and 101.5 mph in his three appearances that week. He averaged 100+ mph on his heater just four more times all season.

Like Alvarado, Morales appears twice, hitting 101 mph with his four-seamer, and 100.6 mph with the two-seamer.

Morales was a part of the A's rotation to begin the season, but after walking eight batters in his first two starts and racking up just 7 ⅓ innings in that span, he was optioned to the minors. He made it back to the A's roster a couple of times throughout the season, but served as a fresh arm for a beleaguered bullpen.

Mercedes was selected by the A's in the minor-league portion of the Rule 5 Draft last offseason, and ended up touching 100.8 mph with his four-seamer in 2026. 

The 24-year-old spent the whole season with the Lansing Lugnuts, posting a 5.15 ERA (6.12 FIP) across 36 ⅔ innings. His strikeout rate was a solid 28%, but his walk rate was a rough 26.9%. He'll be an interesting test for the A's new front office to figure out, as we already know he's Rule 5 eligible. 

The A's 2023 third-round selection touched 100.4 mph with his four-seamer this past season while spending the year in both Lansing and Double-A Midland. In total, the 21-year-old posted a 5.14 ERA with a 4.96 FIP and held a 24.1% strikeout rate with a 10% walk rate.

The issue for him seemed to be letting things unravel when he allowed baserunners, as shown by a 63.7% left-on-base rate. His career LOB% is 69%. 

This is where the increased velocity in Las Vegas is really interesting, because Kelly averaged just 95.8 mph on his four-seamer this past season in his time with the A's (five innings), but he also hit 100.3 mph in the minors with Vegas. 

Kelly was designated for assignment by the A's at the end of June and released in early July.

Acquiring Johnson from the Philadelphia Phillies was the A's lone trade deadline move, and in his short period of time with Vegas, he touched 100.1 mph with his four-seamer. 

After struggling in his initial stint with the A's after the trade, he ended up getting a reset in the minors and pitched a lot better with the club during his second stint, posting a 3.55 ERA across 12 ⅔ September innings.