Kade Morris, a 2020 graduate of Pitman High School and a top pitching prospect for the Athletics organization, will be called up from Triple-A this week to make his major league debut, multiple sources told the Journal on Sunday. He is set to become just the second Pride alumnus to appear in Major League Baseball, joining fellow right-hander Bradin Hagens, who appeared in two games for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2014.
Morris, 23, is expected to join the Athletics in Chicago ahead of a three-game set with the Cubs that begins Tuesday at Wrigley Field.
It is unclear what role Morris will play for an A’s staff that has been struggling as of recent. This week, top line starters Luis Severino and Aaron Civale hit the injured list with shoulder problems. On Sunday, lefty Jacob Lopez told the media he was going to be optioned to Triple-A after giving up seven runs in two innings in a 13-8 loss to the New York Yankees at West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park.
The A’s recently fell out of first place in the American League West after an 11-17 campaign in May, which includes dropping seven of the last nine games. The club sports a 28-31 record heading into the travel day Monday, tied with the Texas Rangers and sitting 2 1/2 games behind the Seattle Mariners.
MLB Pipeline ranks Morris as the No. 12 overall prospect and the fifth-best hurler in the A‘s farm system.
Morris features a four-seam fastball, sinker, slider/sweeper, curveball and changeup. He has spent the entire season at Triple-A Las Vegas, where he has achieved a 5-3 record with a 4.45 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 60.2 innings over 11 starts. He was promoted to Triple-A in June of 2025 and proceeded to help lead the Aviators to the Pacific Coast League championship and was named the club’s Most Valuable Pitcher.
Morris was a third-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, selected 101st overall by the New York Mets. He was just the third player in Pitman High history (since 2002) to be chosen in the MLB Draft. Hagens (Round 6, Arizona Diamondbacks) and Colin Kaepernick (Round 43, Chicago Cubs) were both selected in the 2009 draft. He spent the previous three seasons at the University of Nevada, where he developed into the Wolf Pack ace.
The Athletics acquired Morris just two hours before the 2024 trade deadline, sending former all-star Paul Blackburn to Queens in a one-for-one deal. The former Pride standout then received invites to major league spring training the past two seasons.
“We're following his progress and the things that he does, going back to spring training,” A’s pitching coach Scott Emerson told the Journal on Tuesday. “When we traded for him for Paul Blackburn, an all-star pitcher, I thought, 'Okay, we got a guy that has got a good chance to be a major league pitcher.' He's gone through the system really well. We're following him just like we do everybody else. Every night we're going back and watching the games down there. We look at (Aviators pitching coach) Paul Abbott's reports every day, and when Kade's ready to be here, we'll be ready to have him.”
Someone who has also waited excitedly for Morris’ arrival to the “The Show” is A’s outfielder Tyler Soderstrom, also from Turlock. As a child, Morris took pitching lessons from Soderstrom’s father, former big leaguer Steve Soderstrom.
“We go way back, and I've been keeping up with him, though it is just kind of hard during the season when we’re trying to focus on what's in front of us up here,” Soderstrom told the Journal last September. “I’ve been following his career since he went to (University of Nevada) in Reno, but haven’t spoken to him much. I know he's been pitching good since we traded for him from the Mets. That's been cool to see, and hopefully he gets through soon."
Tuesday’s game against the Cubs is scheduled to get underway at 5:05 p.m. PST.
