Seven of the first eight players on MLBPipeline.com's Oakland Top 30 Prospects list are infielders: shortstops Franklin Barreto, Richie Martin, Yairo Munoz and Chad Pinder; first baseman Matt Olson; and third basemen Renato Nunez and Matt Chapman. Only Nunez is on the 40-man roster. But everyone else -- with the exception of Munoz -- is a non-roster invitee getting a chance to show manager Bob Melvin and his staff what they can do.
"The future of our organization really resides in that core group," A's farm director Keith Lieppman said.