Oakland Athletics No. 1 prospect Franklin Barreto delivers in first MLB game

Saturday the Oakland Athletics called up their No.1 prospect 21-year-old Franklin Barreto.

Barreto was a centerpiece of the trade that sent third baseman Josh Donaldson from the Oakland Athletics to the Toronto Blue Jays. He was just 17 at the time, but still considered a top tier talent.

Since joining the A’s organization he has climbed the minor league ladder consistently and steadily. He is widely considered a top-50 prospect across the entire league.

He hasn’t necessarily dominated offensively but he’s been good, hitting .281/.326/.428 with eight home runs this season at Triple-A Nashville.

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He’s been a good defender at shortstop and there is still obvious room for growth given his young age.

A natural shortstop, Barreto is currently occupying the roster spot of another recent call-up Chad Pinder, who was put on the 10-day disabled list with a hamstring strain.

Pinder joins the A’s regular shortstop Marcus Semien who is rehabbing from a broken wrist he suffered earlier in the season.

This morning Barreto was not officially in the Athletics’ lineup but was later substituted for a “scratched” Jed Lowrie. According to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, Lowrie was scratched due to a slight knee sprain.

It’s likely that the A’s will try to trade the veteran Lowrie by the non-waiver trade deadline, in order to continue their youth movement.

The infield could become quite crowded very soon if the A’s decide to keep Barreto in the majors without sending him back down and bringing him back up later. There’s a chance that Barreto could end up in center field when Semien and Pinder return.

Both Semien and Pinder have established themselves as staple players for Oakland and Barreto may be relegated to the outfield. He is quite fast and can cover the expansive center field in Oakland. He’s stolen four bases for the Nashville Sounds this season, however, he’s also been caught stealing five times.

While he may need work stealing bases (and their is never a shortage of base-stealing knowledge in the A’s organization with Rickey Henderson always ready to tutor younger players in the art of stolen bases), he is still fast enough to play in center field.

Whatever the A’s decide to do, Barreto will not be eligible for “Super Two” status and will become arbitration eligible for arbitration in 2020, much like many of his peers, meaning the A’s are building a team for the future.

Barreto made his case today, on the Southside of Chicago, to remain in the majors permanently. He struck out on three pitches in his first at-bat, however the next time he stepped up to the plate he took a 2-2 81.9 MPH changeup and hit it over the centerfield wall.

In doing so he became one of just a handful of Athletics to homer in their first MLB game – a handful that includes catcher Terry Steinbach.

He also became part of only the second group of three rookies to ever all get their first MLB home runs in the same game since 1914.

Jaycob Brugman and Matt Olson also hit their first homers of their major league careers in Chicago on Saturday. Olson also hit his second MLB home run in the seventh inning.

This is the second time three teammates have hit their first ML homers in the same game. First time April 26, 1914 for the KC Packers.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) June 24, 2017

All three came off of starting pitcher James Shields. Shields became the third pitcher this year to get to 2,000 strikeouts, but he allowed six runs on seven hits in the game, so his accomplishment became somewhat overshadowed by the A’s rookies.

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Oakland’s starting pitcher Daniel Gossett also got the first win of his career on Saturday, in what was his second straight stellar performance for Oakland. Surely, he was grateful for the run support from his fellow rookies, especially the A’s top prospect Franklin Barreto.