Oakland A’s Spring Game # 1: Showcase Perspectives in A’s Spring Opening

The Oakland A’s opened their Cactus League spring training season on Sunday, with a home game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The exhibition contest was only to last seven innings, with no rush to push themselves so early in the warm-up process, and the Dodgers won 2-1.

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But as usual, the ranking doesn’t matter in the spring. Instead, let’s take a look at some individual performances, especially prospects, unregistered guests, and other players during the opening day bubble. First, the pitchers, with seven pitchers each pitching an inning each, and then we’ll look at some key position players.

Daulton Jefferies

The start went to Daulton Jefferies, # 5 on our community prospect list. He looked sharp, needing only nine throws to get through the 1st inning.

Jefferies started off with a three-length strikeout from Mookie Betts, swinging on a looping break ball. Corey Seager pursued what looked like a change to a routine flyby. Then Austin Barnes protected the plate on a 2-2 pitch and failed. Along the way (for Strike 2), Barnes chased a different kind of brittle bullet than the Betts saw, a harder slider / knife hybrid.

I can’t ask for a better opening than this. Jefferies took on three MLB hitters, took them all out, and highlighted his entire arsenal – in fact, an even bigger arsenal than we expected, with two separate brittle balls.

James kaprielian

The second round brought another best prospect, James Kaprielian, # 7 on our CPL. He wasn’t as efficient as Jefferies, needing 18 shots, but he was better than his box score suggests.

Kaprielian’s first hitter was AJ Pollock, and he almost froze him for Strike 3 on a nice brittle ball, but he registered just low; Pollock flew away instead.

Next was Matt Beaty, who hit a routine grounder at 2B, except there was a defensive lag and 3B Chad Pinder was there; Pinder missed it but it was called a hit. Then Kap put a ball in the dirt on the next batter, and wide receiver Austin Allen let it bounce just far enough for the runner to advance. The defense wasn’t helping Kap.

It almost cost him, as Edwin Rios took the advantage 3-1 and lined up a single against RF, but the defense redeemed itself. Buddy Reed delivered a perfect pitch to tackle the runner trying to score from second. Thus, the entry into service of the A put a free runner in second position but also eliminated him later. A routine drop-down menu then terminates the frame.

Jordan weems

The 3rd inning went to Jordan Weems, who made an impressive debut in MLB last summer and is a promising sleeper for the 2021 reliever pen.

Weems got off to a rough start. He allowed a start single and edged out the next batsman 1-2, but nibbled and lost him by one step. Betts then threw a deep fly at RF, but it easily stayed in the park for an outing. Reed nearly collected another assist from the field, nearly throwing the advancing runner towards 3B, but in doing so he let the trail runner reach 2B with just one out.

Next was Seager, who worked a full count and beefed up a looper in the shallow center for a single RBI, though the runner on 2B didn’t score. Weems then came out, inducing a double playing field from Barnes – 2G Tony Kemp first shoved him, but recovered and made a nice jump into the sack to start the 4-6-3.

Dany jimenez

In the 4th, we got our first look at Dany Jimenez, a rule 5 draft pick. His fastball was tough but wild, and he dropped at least one nice brittle ball. Despite his erratic control, when he fell behind 3-0 on a batter, he responded by going on strike if necessary. He only needed nine pitches for his inning, even though he escaped with a mistake that Pollock couldn’t take advantage of.

Domingo Acevedo

The 5th gave us a glimpse of Domingo Acevedo, a minor league free agent who signed and was not invited to the roster, who was once a top prospect for the Yankees. The information we need from him the most are speed readings, whether he’s back to his 90s or if he’s still in his low 90s where he’ll have a harder time succeeding. Unfortunately, this data is not yet available.

Acevedo didn’t have much of a problem with the three hitters he gave up, but he lost control at one point and threw up a five-length walk. Still, he only needed 14 shots for his round.

Ben bracewell

The 6th went to Ben Bracewell, 30, an unregistered guest who isn’t much of a prospect anymore but was part of the 60-man pool last summer.

Bracewell finished his round in just eight shots, thanks to three balls on the ground. One of them, he dropped it, knocked it over and got back to pick it up and turn it over first. Then Sheldon Neuse hit a routine grounder at Pete Kozma at 2B, but Kozma slammed him for a mistake. Regardless, as a smooth-field prospect Nick Allen picked the next to start a 6-4-3 double play.

Argenis Angulo

Finally, the 7th saw Argenis Angulo, another minor league free agent sign. He’s billed as having big stuff and shaky leadership, but he threw strikes at his first two hitters and took them out quickly.

However, veteran batsman Matt Davidson worked a long time at batting, then Angulo gave him a boost and Davidson smashed him over the wall for a homerun. The last outing was a popup, but particularly adventurous due to the wind, and Nick Allen did a good job of sticking to it.

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Put it all together, and A’s pitching staff pitched seven innings and allowed two runs on five hits and two walks. They only recorded one strikeout, the very first batter of the game. More important than the results, no one looked terrible – a few were great and a few were brittle, but there was no complete collapse or long-term loss of control. And no injuries.

Hitters

On the other side of the ball, Oakland’s lineup wasn’t much. They won six times on the base, and two of them were by new DH Mitch Moreland, on a single solid oppo-liner, then blow-by-blow. Elvis Andrus also worked a quality walk on his first at bat, but was later caught stealing on a double strike play. The only other success was a liner for a clean single by MLB-ready hopeful Seth Brown.

Their only round was in the 5th. Mark Canha started with a walk, and Moreland got his HBP, to put two runners with no one out. Catch Austin allen Crossed out looking, then outfield prospect Buddy Reed hit a Grounder in the middle who might have had a chance for a rally-killing double play. Luckily Reed has a speed of 70 degrees so he beat the pitch at 1B, and it turns out the defender missed the sack at 2B, so the runner was safe there too. Bases loaded, always just one exit.

Next was Brown, who made just enough contact. His slow helicopter wasn’t enough for the Dodgers to turn two, so they settled for the 1B out as the lead runner crossed home plate. Tony kemp drew a brilliant walk to continue, then Vimael cars pierced a liner on the left side but the 3B snagged it for the third indent.

Good: Nice day for Moreland and Brown. It’s good to see that Kemp’s pesky drumming eye is already in full force. And don’t sleep on Machin’s 0: 1 score in the box score, as it was almost a brace that would have given the A’s lead back in the day – a positive data point for an infielder. fighting for post 2B. .

The bad: On the other hand, it was an afternoon to forget for replacement wide receiver Austin Allen. He did a double play on his first trip, then hit a big opportunity the next time around, and also had a whoopsie on defense. Minor league free agent Pete Kozma also made a mistake on the field at 2G, which is difficult as his entire focus on the depth graph is intermediate defense.

The incredible: In Allen’s happier news, how about the best shortstop prospect Nick allen? Our CPL No.3 made three impressive games in just three innings on the bench. You can see two of them below, and it also launched a clean GIDP after the Kozma error.

Allen also showed something at home plate, where he’s about the same height as the crouching umpire and barely taller than the crouching catcher. He hit, but along the way he worked a hard nine pitches at bat.

And of course we can add Buddy reed to the Amazing list too, with his big RF throw and his wheels out of the batter’s box.

There were also bats of prospects Tyler soderstrom, Greg Deichmann, and Cody thomas, although neither hit the ball out of the infield.

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As far as the spring openers go, this game was perfectly fine. The loss is irrelevant, but we got a first glimpse of several launch prospects, and two exciting defensive prospects showed their talents. Let’s do it again tomorrow!

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One final note: Cody Thomas was acquired this month in the trade that sent Sheldon Neuse to the Dodgers, and both played in that game. Thomas entered as a pincher and reached 3B, where Neuse was playing in defense.