Oakland Athletics: Shifting Around the Diamond
Having players change positions during the season without the acquisition of a new player is often worrisome. For the Oakland Athletics, it’s a blessing.
Slugger Khris Davis played left field all of last season, and will now be moving to DH. In 2017, both Davis and Ryon Healy produced offensively but failed to be consistent on defense. This led Healy to be traded to the Seattle Mariners this offseason. This gave the A’s the flexibility to acquire Stephen Piscotty from the Cardinals in a heartwarming bigger-than-baseball story. It also allowed the A’s to platoon veteran Matt Joyce with the versatile Chad Pinder in left field.
Beyond Joyce and Pinder, the Davis move to DH creates opportunities in center field. Boog Powell proved to be a solid addition and is currently lined up to start in center field. Should Powell stumble out of the gates, Dustin Fowler can come in and start in center field. Granted, he may not be entirely healthy, but Fowler should provide an offensive spark to the team once he enters the starting lineup.
Should any outfielder get injured, there are people able to replace their production. With three of the four projected bench players being able to play in the outfield, the A’s can pick and choose which players start to give them the competitive advantage over teams. Since Pinder also plays in the infield, he can spell either middle infielder. Along with his presence in the outfield, Pinder’s versatility parallels the flexibility the Oakland A’s will have in 2018.