A's Prospects Edge Brewers 9-8 on Late Eighth-Inning Rally

Nate Nankil's RBI single in a tie-breaking eighth-inning rally capped the 2026 Spring Breakout in fitting fashion, lifting the Athletics Prospects to a 9-8 win over the Brewers Prospects at Hohokam Stadium on Sunday. The victory was the 16th and final game of the MLB prospect showcase, and it belonged to a group of Oakland farmhands that outperformed the star-powered billing the event had advertised.

The headliner was Kade Morris. The Athletics' No. 12 prospect sat at 96 miles per hour and repeatedly dispatched Brewers hitters with his curveball, fanning six batters across four smooth innings. He fired a perfect fourth inning, stranded a two-out triple in the fifth, and followed with a 1-2-3 sixth. Morris was one out away from a scoreless seventh before Eric Bitonti ended that bid with a solo home run. The performance only adds weight to projections that Morris will open the season in Triple-A Las Vegas, with a potential MLB call-up anticipated sometime this summer.

The game had been billed as a showcase duel between MLB Pipeline's No. 3 prospect, Milwaukee's Jesús Made, and No. 4 prospect Leo De Vries of the Athletics. Neither lived up to the marquee matchup: Made committed three errors on the afternoon, while De Vries was held to a walk and a run scored, though he did flash his defensive range with a highlight-reel dive, spin and throw. Morris, meanwhile, set Made, Luis Peña and top-10 third base prospect Andrew Fischer down in order at one point during his outing.

Behind the plate, Cole Conn turned in arguably the most complete offensive afternoon in the lineup. Catching for Morris, Conn drew two walks and launched an opposite-field home run that animated the A's bullpen. Conn homered four times at the Lansing Lugnuts last season before earning a promotion to Double-A Midland, where he is expected to begin 2026.

With Nankil's go-ahead single completing the eighth-inning surge, the Athletics' prospects finished the Spring Breakout on the right side of a 9-8 scoreline and left Hohokam Stadium with several of their most intriguing names, Morris chief among them, pointed squarely toward the upper levels of the system.