Next up in our Season in Review series is another player that got plenty of playing time in Triple-A Las Vegas before his first promotion to the big leagues. While he’d ultimately end the year with another organization,
outfielder Drew Avans will always remember his time with the A’s, where he made his big league debut and collected his first career hit.
How was he acquired?
Drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers all the way in the 33rd round in 2018, Avans spent the first six seasons (plus one cancelled year) of his pro career in their organization. After the cancelled 2020 minor league season, Avans got his first taste of Triple-A in 2021, where he would remain for the next four seasons. During that time he was just one call away from The Show and generally hit well and had a knack for stealing bases, but a lack of power was obvious in his game and he was never called up by the star-studded Dodgers.
That prompted him to elect free agency last offseason and it didn’t take him long to choose his next organization. He signed a minor league deal with the Athletics on November 20th of last year, his first new club in seven years.
What were the expectations?
With Avans, the A’s were adding a left-handed hitter with a quality eye and plenty of speed on the basepaths. The A’s had their own sort of logjam in the outfield when Avans signed, with fellow lefty hitters Lawrence Butler, JJ Bleday and Seth Brown ahead of him on the depth chart at the time of the signing. Things didn’t get any more open for him when they moved Tyler Soderstrom to left field and jettisoned Brown. Still, an injury here or there and suddenly Avans would have a path to the big leagues.
2025 Results
After spending most of the first two months down in Triple-A with the Aviators, Avans’ lifelong dream was finally realized on May 27th when the A’s selected his contract and promoted him to the big league squad. While he wouldn’t start the game that evening, Avans would come in later in place of Butler for defense but would go on to collect his first big league hit later that night, a single off Astros ace right-hander Forrest Whitley.
While Avans was hitting well in Triple-A (.328/.414/.444 with 4 homers and 13 stolen bases), Avans would only last a week with the A’s before they designated him for assignment. He just wasn’t able to translate his strong minor league numbers to the big leagues, going 2-for-15 with the A’s with a stolen base but five punchouts. The Milwaukee Brewers didn’t waste time to make a claim on the lefty Avans, and though he spent the majority of the rest of the year in Triple-A he did manage to get into
2026 Outlook
Avans is still under contract with the Brewers organization and would be still pre-arbitration but he could be a non-tender candidate later on when the Rule 5 Draft gets closer. As a 29-year-old outfielder with just 17 major league at-bats on his resume, if he does return to the open market as a free agent he’d almost certainly have to settle for another minor league deal this offseason, but he’ll still be only one phone call away from the majors. The Athletics signed Avans once last offseason even with more options ahead of him on the depth chart but don’t expect that again with the A’s outfield looking much more cemented this offseason than last if Avans becomes available again.
