When Athletics Nation voted on our Community Prospect List last winter, the Top 30 featured five pitchers who missed 2018 due to injury. Now one of them is back on the mound, and the early returns are most encouraging. Daulton Jefferies, whom we ranked as the team’s No. 17 prospect this year, is not only back in action but also punched his ticket to the upper-minors this week.
The right-hander was drafted out of UC Berkeley in 2016, with a supplemental pick just after the 1st round (37th overall). He may have gone even higher than that, but calf and shoulder problems limited his junior season in college and likely dropped him out of the top half of the 1st round.