James Naile

Organization Prospect Rankings

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  Ranked Oakland Athletics #26 prospect in 2018
  Naile already owns a pretty cool distinction in his professional career: Pitching for Double-A Midland, he threw six shutout innings and got the victory in the deciding game of the 2016 Texas League championship series, and then threw six shutout innings and got the victory in the deciding game of the 2017 Texas League championship series as well. Naile doesn't possess overpowering stuff, but his fastball jumped from sitting in the high 80s in 2016 to the low 90s in 2017. He gets excellent sink on his fastball, which runs in on righthanded hitters. He attacks the strike zone, with just 62 walks in 256 minor league innings. He also employs a slider, changeup and cutter. Naile won a minor league Gold Glove in 2016, when he handled 48 chances without an error at four different levels. Naile does have an injury history: He sat out the 2014 season at Alabama-Birmingham after Tommy John surgery, and he missed about two months of the 2017 season with an oblique strain. People in the A's organization love his competitiveness. He figures to begin 2018 with Triple-A Nashville.
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  Ranked Oakland Athletics #30 prospect in 2017
  Naile missed his sophomore season at Alabama-Birmingham after having Tommy John surgery in 2013, but Oakland selected him in the 20th round in 2015 after he led Conference USA in innings pitched (110) and strikeouts (92). Naile overcomes his fringe-average stuff with plus makeup and a bulldog mentality and that helped him pitch at four levels in 2016, reaching Triple-A. He tossed six scoreless innings in Game Five of the Double-A Texas League finals to pitch Midland to the title, getting 12 groundball outs with no flyouts, as is his modus operandi. Naile locates his 86-90 mph fastball well, commanding the bottom of the zone to generate an extreme groundball rate. His fastball has excellent sink and late run, and he mixes in a cutter on occasion. His slider is average at 79-83 and he has some feel for the changeup, but it's firm at 85-87. He's an excellent defender, winning a minor league gold glove, and has a strong pickoff move. Naile, who led the organization's minor leaguers with 156.2 regular-season innings, should start 2017 back at Midland.