Oakland Athletics: Kendall Graveman Named Opening NIght Starter

Kendall Graveman will be on the mound for the Oakland Athletics on Opening Night.

Even with two rotation spots still up for grabs the Oakland Athletics have named Kendall Graveman as their Opening Night starter against the Los Angeles Angels on April 3.

Graveman will be taking over what would have been the injured Sonny Gray‘s role. Despite the disastrous year Gray had in 2016, the role still would have been his had he not been ruled out until May with a lat strain.

Still, it could be argued that, if Gray were healthy, the year he had last season was so terrible that a case could be made for Graveman to start the season opener.

Graveman would never have gone along with that had it happened, despite being the only stable pitcher in the A’s rotation in the second half of 2016.

“I told BoMel this morning when he told me, I said ‘I’m the No. 1 starter for Opening Night, but then whoever is the second guy is the No. 1 starter for us the next night,’ and that’s the way we have to go about it to be successful,” Graveman said Thursday afternoon.

He’s one of the members of the Athletics that truly realizes that the whole team needs to contribute, be on board and feel, maybe not important but useful, for the team to be able to win.

Even though the blame for the A’s poor record the last two seasons can be blamed by an ineffective bullpen in 2015, it was effectively revamped prior to 2016, but then the team was ravaged with injuries. That was especially true when it came to the starting rotation.

The now 26-year-old Graveman, anchored the Athletics rotation when the majority of the Athletics’ pitching staff was either on the disabled list or simply just not cutting it.

The bullpen was taxed from their workload in the first half and even though the A’s ended the season at 69-94, it was Graveman who helped lighten that load and keep the rest A’s going even when most of the team’s hope had been long lost.

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Graveman is the type of player that any team would want, a guy who truly understands that it takes all 25-men on the roster being on the same page in order for the team to function properly.

When the A’s acquired Graveman it was not a popular move. He, along with the A’s top prospect shortstop Franklin Barreto, were the two top prize players the A’s got in the five-player trade that sent fan-favorite and future 2015 AL MVP, Josh Donaldson to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Thus far, both players have lived up to what has been expected of them. With the exception of a couple of blips in Graveman’s rookie year he’s been the epitome of the player you want in your clubhouse and the pitcher you need on the mound.

While the 21-year-old Barreto will still be starting the season in Triple-A, mainly in order to get practice at second base, which will be his new position when he joins the big league club at some point this season, he is currently big league ready.

Barreto has hit .481 this spring getting 13 hits in 27 at-bats, including a homerun and five RBI to go along with an astonishing .500 on-base percentage.

He’s good enough to play shortstop but the team is committed to keeping Marcus Semien at the position.

Plus, while he has enough range to play at short, Barreto is better suited to playing second base anyway.

It’s a win-win for the Athletics with both Graveman and Barreto.

With Graveman on the mound Opening Night at the Oakland Coliseum and Barreto expected to be up by mid-season, the Josh Donaldson trade doesn’t seem even remotely as bad as it did to many people back in 2014.

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