Athletics Option Kaprielian, Brown to get to 28-Player Roster Limit
The Major League Baseball debut for pitcher James Kaprielian will have to wait for another day.
Kaprielian, the former first-round draft pick who was called up Tuesday, was one of two players the A’s optioned to their alternate site in San Jose Thursday morning as the club trimmed from the opening day roster limit of 30 players to 28.
Joining him on the trip to the South Bay will be outfielder Seth Brown, who got a chance to show himself last year when the A’s were battling through a series of outfield injuries. This year, with the outfielders all healthy, Brown’s number wasn’t often called by manager Bob Melvin.
Kaprielian came to the A’s in 2017 in the Sonny Gray trade with the Yankees.
New York had taken him with its first pick (16 overall) in the 2015 draft out of UCLA. After getting told Tuesday that he was being promoted – the staff at the A’s alternate site in San Jose used the clip of a big-league callup from the movie “The Natural” to break the news – he got an ovation from the A’s staff before being sent north.
However, Melvin didn’t find an opening to use him in either game, both of them A’s wins.
"Kaprielian was hard," Melvin said. "He'd been up for two days, and now he's visiting the manager's office again. But I believe he's put himself in a position where he's right on the verge of big things. We look forward to getting him back."
Brown, a 19th-round draft choice out of Lewis & Clark State in Idaho, got one start, Sunday against the Mariners in Seattle, and the rookie played in three games total, going 0-for-3. He made the opening day roster after averaging .324 with eight RBI in 17 spring training games.
Last year he hit 37 homers and drove in 104 runs with Triple-A Las Vegas before a promotion to the big leagues. He got into 26 games with the A’s last year, averaging .293 and 10 of the 22 hits went for extra bases (eight doubles, two triples).
Melvin said that with the outfielders all healthy, the move with Brown made sense, but that "we expect to see him again this season."
"Brownie was understanding in that he wasn't getting a lot of at-bats," Melvin said. "We have a bit of a logjam here, but we're going to need him at some point in time."
Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3
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