The Athletics made some interesting decisions on their 40-man roster ahead Tuesday’s deadline. The club ended up adding three prospects to the roster, but the main takeaways were those that were left off.

First, the players that were added, which included Braden Nett (No. 4 prospect), Chen Zhong-Ao Zhuang (No. 29), and Junior Perez (Unranked). All three prospects are now protected from the Rule 5 Draft in a couple of weeks at the winter meetings. We’ll talk more about them in a moment.

The big surprise for some was that former first-round selection Daniel Susac was not added to the 40-man, which will leave him vulnerable in the draft next month. As we mentioned a few days ago, this was always a possibility.

While Susac is the No. 11 ranked prospect on the farm, the fact that he plays catcher may be enough to keep him safe from the draft—or at least that’s what the A’s are hoping. Since 2021, only two catchers have been selected in the Rule 5 Draft, Kekai Rios and Liam Hicks, and only Hicks actually played in the big leagues.

Rios was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021 and spent the season injured. Two years later he was selected off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays and has yet to make him MLB debut.

Hicks was selected by the Marlins last winter and ended up getting into 119 games and batting .247 with a .346 OBP and a .692 OPS. He slugged six homers and drove in 45 RBI. He also walked 11% of the time and struck out just 14.4% and was used mostly against right-handed pitching. He has a specific set of skills that led to him having success, but he’s more than exception than the rule.

Not adding Susac to the roster likely just allowed the A’s to hold onto Perez, whom they are very high on internally. He’s a power/speed centerfielder that can also play some solid defense.

Also in this slew of moves, the A’s designated JJ Bleday for assignment, which was another somewhat expected move for the franchise this winter. Over the course of the 2025 season he was surpassed on the depth chart by Denzel Clarke in center, and with the addition of Tyler Soderstrom in left field, the best Bleday could hope for was a fourth outfielder spot.

The main question for Bleday this winter was whether he would be traded later in the winter or DFA’d immediately, and on Tuesday we got our answer. Now we will wait to see if the A’s can trade Bleday in, a former first-round pick himself, in the coming days.

If the A’s are able to trade him, it will presumably be for someone not on a 40-man roster elsewhere. The other option is he just ends up getting claimed by another team.

As for the three players that have been added to the A’s roster, Nett was acquired by the A’s as the second-biggest part of the Mason Miller trade. He spent the entire season in the Double-A Texas League, going 5-4 with a 3.39 ERA in 17 starts for San Antonio and 1-3 with a 4.60 ERA in seven starts with the A’s affiliate in Midland. 

The 23-year-old right-hander was a combined 6-7 with a 3.75 ERA and .734 opponents OPS in 24 starts overall. Nett struck out 116, walked 48 and surrendered just eight home runs in 105.2 innings.  He is 13-11 with a 3.91 ERA in 61 career appearances, including 54 starts, in four seasons as a professional.

Perez began the year at Midland and hit .201 with 14 home runs and 53 RBI in 95 games.  He was moved up to Las Vegas on Aug. 1 and batted .298 with 12 home runs and 34 RBI in 42 games in his Triple-A debut.  The 24-year-old right-handed hitter combined for a .231 average, 26 home runs, 87 RBI, 27 stolen bases and a .821 OPS in 137 games overall. 

Perez led the A’s farm system in runs (87), home runs, RBI, walks (87), extra base hits (61) and total bases (232).  He is a .229 career hitter with 83 home runs, 345 RBI and 175 stolen bases in 674 games over seven professional seasons. A lot of eyes will be on him in camp after he really hit his stride at the end of 2025.

Zhuang spent the entire 2025 season at Midland and was 6-11 with a 4.08 ERA and .760 opponents OPS in 28 games, including 26 starts.  He led the A’s farm system and ranked second in the Texas League with 145 strikeouts. 

The 25-year-old right-hander walked just 35, an average of 2.16 per nine innings.  Zhuang was signed by the A’s out of Taiwan on Nov. 24, 2021 and is 12-17 with a 3.55 ERA in 59 games, 49 starts, in three seasons in the A’s farm system.  Zhuang has 272 strikeouts in 273.2 innings and has walked just 56, an average of 1.84 per nine innings.

Bleday had originally been acquired by the A’s from the Miami Marlins in the deal for A.J. Puk back in 2023. With all of these moves, the A’s 40-man roster now sits at 40, but with the Rule 5 Draft coming up, it will be interesting to see if they make one more roster cut in the coming days to clear up a spot for a selection in the draft.

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