A's Pitching Prospect Steven Echavarria Earns Promotion to Double-A

In the first round of the 2023 MLB Draft, the Athletics selected Jacob Wilson with the 6th overall pick, and he made his MLB debut just over a year later. Also taken in the draft was a right-hander out of Millburn High School in New Jersey in the third round. 

After that draft, we asked then-GM David Forst which player from the class they were surprised fell to them, and he named the 6-foot-1 right-hander.

"Steven Echavarria in the third round was not someone we expected to be there," Forst said. "The way the draft works now with slots and bonuses — underslot deals, overslot deals — you never quite know how it's going to play out. But having the second pick on day two, I think played to our advantage so that we could talk to Steven." 

Since that day, Echavarria has been stuck in the lower levels of the minors, going 7-19 with a cumulative 5.29 ERA across 255 ⅓ innings of work. He's struck out a total of 240 batters, walked 123 and holds a 1.55 WHIP.

His strikeout rate has increased overall this year, sitting at a career-high 22.1%, while his walk rate has fluctuated over his three seasons in the minors, currently sitting at 10.7%. The one big plus for him is that his batting average against has fallen to .250 this season, so if he can limit the free passes, he will be on the right developmental path. 

This season has been a struggle at times, but in his last two outings he has allowed just two earned runs across 10 ⅔ innings, good for a 1.69 ERA. He's also struck out an impressive 15 batters in that span, but has walked eight as well. 

Given the two solid outings, the A's have decided to promote him to Double-A Midland to test him over the last few weeks of the season.

"Overall, he has started to become more consistent," Director of Player Development Ed Sprague Jr. told us. "The biggest thing would be incorporating his changeup into his arsenal. He has big velo, and we felt like he has matured enough to be challenged at Double-A over the last month."

Now 21 years old, Echavarria has a chance to start taking some big steps forward in the system. He's ranked as the club's No. 14 prospect by MLB Pipeline, with a plus fastball and a plus slider, while his changeup and curveball have been given 45 grades on the 20-80 scouting scale. 

Given that he's a high school arm, he was always going to take time to develop in the minor leagues. The goal now is to find some consistency from him moving forward. Echavarria has completed five innings in only nine of his 20 starts this season, so limiting the walks and working deeper into games will be big for his development. 

Echavarria last pitched on August 7, so we'll have to wait a few days for his Double-A debut.