Oakland Athletics Youth Movement Continues

The Oakland Athletics have played well at home, terribly on the road, and as Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs pointed out yesterday, their defense is pretty terrible. Still within range of the .500 mark and with a little time before the deadline, the A’s may be headed towards a full-fledged youth movement to either turn things around or see what they have for the future.

I’m on record many times at this site saying that the Oakland Athletics are an intriguing team. This is in some small part because they are the team of my youth, but also because they have some interesting arms in the rotation. Sonny Gray has been bust rebuilding his reputation, Sean Manaea hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any of his last four starts, Andrew Triggs has been dominant at times and performing like a waiver claim at others, Jesse Hahn just hasn’t received run support and Kendall Graveman looks to be turning a corner (when healthy).

The defense behind them hasn’t been spectacular as a whole with the A’s ranking dead last in Defensive Runs Saved (-34), and while center field hasn’t been their biggest problem in the outfield, it looks as though their preseason number 24 prospect per Baseball America could get a shot to impress.

Jaycob Brugman started the season on the disabled list with a calf strain (per Susan Slusser) but since joining the Triple-A Nashville Sounds, he has hit a solid .288 with a .373 OBP, one homer, eight RBI and three steals in four chances. Lately the A’s have been rolling with Rajai Davis (batting .216) and Mark Canha (.191) in center with number seven prospect and shortstop by trade Chad Pinder getting a shot in right with Matt Joyce hampered by a quad strain (again per Slusser).

If Brugman can provide a spark at the plate while wearing a glove in the field, he should be good enough for this group of A’s.

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Slusser is not sure what the corresponding move will be for Brugman’s debut, but says that it could be Frankie Montas headed down to get some work where he’s not getting pounded by big-league hitters. She also is not sure if this move will be a short-term fix to help the A’s roster for their three games in two days with Saturday’s doubleheader on the docket.

Joyce’s health and Brugman’s productivity could play big roles in that decision.

With Brugman on board, he joins Jharel Cotton (#4), Montas (#5), Pinder (#7), Bruce Maxwell (#10), Matt Olson (#17), Raul Alcantara (#19) and Bobby Wahl (#26) as players in the A’s top 30 to either make their debuts this season or get some extra time in the big leagues. Top prospect Franklin Barreto will be called up once the team trades Jed Lowrie closer to the deadline, and number three prospect Matt Chapman is another sure bet to see some time at third, whether or not the team can move Trevor Plouffe.

With so many inexperienced players likely having roster spots as the season continues, it’s probable that the A’s will fall further out of contention. However, that is not to say that they will be an uninteresting team. Their defense stinks, but Chapman is a beast at the hot corner, Pinder has a cannon no matter where he’s positioned, and the arms on the pitching staff have some solid potential.

Next: Upping the Ante on Harper?

What we’ll be seeing from Oakland this season is hopefully the fruits of some of the labor that they’ve been putting into rebuilding this club since their three consecutive playoff appearances. It’s been a tough couple of seasons, but we’ll start to get an idea if baseball’s version of Puxatony Phil will smile upon the A’s in the coming seasons, or if there are still a couple more years of winter.