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For the A's Seth Brown, it's All in the Numbers

The Oakland Athletics gave left fielder Seth Brown a promotion of sorts by elevating him to the No. 15 from No. 65. It's a sign that the A's see him as a big part of their future, once baseball gets back on the field. While waiting to show what the No. 15 can do, Brown is spending time on Skype with fans.
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Most everything you need to know about the way the A’s feel about outfielder Seth Brown was hanging in his locker when he reported to spring training in Mesa, Ariz. in February.

It was his jersey. It had his name, of course, and the number 15. When Brown came up with the A’s in the last week of August last year, he was given the number 65.

Now 65 is not a hitter’s number. According to a compilation put together by A’s stats guru Mike Selleck, the A’s have only given out 65 in the regular season to four men, three pitchers with largely forgettable time in Oakland – Jon Meloan, Graham Godfrey and Pedro Figueroa – and one bullpen coach, Scott Emerson.

Meloan, Godfrey and Figueroa combined for one with the A’s – Godfrey started and beat the Giants 5-2 with seven strong innings on June 17, 2011. Emerson wore 65 as a bullpen coach, but he moved to 14 after his installment as pitching coach.

If you check out Brown on baseball-reference.com, you won’t find him wearing 15; he’s still got 65. That won’t change until he and the A’s actually play a game in June, July or whenever the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has run its course.

You will, however, see that Brown had a largely successful first bow with Oakland. He played in 26 games, mostly as a left fielder, although he did get into a handful of games as a first baseman, drove in 13 runs and put together a slash line of .293/.361/.453. He got off to an 11-for-25 start (.440) after his promotion, and in the first week up he also threw out a runner at the plate and saved runs with a diving catch.

He will almost certainly be on the A’s roster when the season does get going, and while that first opening day will be special, it will have to go some to match up with his Aug. 26 big league debut when he had a pair of singles in a win over the Royals in Kansas City,

That first big-league at-bat came after a monster season – 37 homers and 104 RBI in 112 games in his first try at Triple-A Las Vegas – that had taken him from an ordinary status to prospect. And then he was in the batter’s box in Kauffman Stadium, standing in against Royals’ starter Brad Keller.

“It was just so crazy to me and so surreal,” the Oregon-born Brown told Medford’s Mail Tribune recently. “It’s hard to really put into words walking up there for your first big-league at-bat. I knew going up there that I wanted to take in a moment. So, when I was on deck and walking up to the plate, I took a few steps of, `OK, let’s take this in and realize where you’re at.’ But I only gave myself a few steps just because I knew I had an at-bat and I knew I needed to kind of get going and do what I was called up to do.”

And so he did. Batting with Mark Canha on first base and facing a 2-1 count, Brown dropped a fly ball down the left field line for a single that sent Canha to third base. Brown would eventually come around to score on a bases-loaded walk as the A’s took off for a five-run inning en route to a 19-4 win.

He would wind up with 10 hits in his first five games, forcing himself into the lineup.

And those numbers would lead to his new number, 15. He just has to wait to put it on display.

Meanwhile, he’s spending time reaching out to A’s fans and any baseball fan who wants to chat from his home in Bend, Ore.

In a system set up by his agent, fans can use Twitter (@MrBrown_12) to direct message Brown, and he’ll call back on Skype. He says if he can brighten someone’s day, he’s all in.

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3