Spring Was Good to A's Before Shutdown

The Oakland Athletics wound up with the best record in the Cactus League at 13-8, with starters and catchers contributing mightily.

Before we leave the first of what are almost certain to be, thanks to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, two spring trainings behind, perhaps we should have one last look at the how the A’s did before things were shut down.

It wasn’t a good February. Oakland went 3-6 for the month, including starting out with five consecutive losses.

It was a terrific March, at least until the looming threat of COVID-19 arose and forced cancellation of Cactus League teams and, later, the shutdown of all Spring Training camps. The A’s had a five-game March winning streak followed by a four-gamer.

The end result was a 13-8 record, the best in the Cactus League at the time of the shutdown, and second in all of baseball to the 14-5 record posted by the Phillies.

For the A’s, who came into the spring putting much faith in their starting pitching, things were encouraging. Overall, the starters’ ERA was an unimpressive 5.22. But, Frankie Montas didn’t allow any earned runs in three starts. Jesus Luzardo allowed one run in three starts. A.J. Puk didn’t allow a run in two starts, but then had to be shut down briefly because of shoulder soreness. He’s back throwing again, or was before the shutdown.

Mike Fiers didn’t have much of an ERA (4.85), but he threw five innings (two earned runs) his last time out, after which he said he felt ready to start to the season.

Sean Manaea, who was so brilliant last September, was the one who really struggled. In three starts, he allowed a dozen runs. But at least part of that can be given over to his experimenting with new pitch grips and patterns, and in the three starts, he didn’t walk anyone.

Offensively, the A’s saw big production for their catcher candidates, including a .406/.441/.646 from Austin Allen, .375/.500/.875 from Sean Murphy and .320/.370/.400 from Jonah Heim. Murphy is the projected starter while Allen and Heim are looking to be the backup.

At second base, the one position that has no obvious claimant, Rule 5 addition Vimael Machin made a big push at .333/.444/.400. Tony Kemp, picked up from the Cubs in the offseason, bounced between second and center field with a .345/.412/.483 spring. Franklin Barreto came on strong in March after a slow start to get to .306/.359/.528. Ryan Goins, a minor league signee with some MLB time, made a mark a .300/.364/.300. And Jorge Mateo, who like Barreto is out of options, had a sluggish .231/.375/.231 showing.

It was a tough spring for DH Khris Davis, who hit just .176 with no extra-base hit. Davis trying to shake off a tough 2019, when he went from American League home run champ to being demoted from his regular job as the Oakland cleanup hitter.

He wasn’t alone in trying to find his swing. Shortstop Marcus Semien (.208/333/.250), first baseman Matt Olson (.200/.333/.400) and third baseman Matt Chapman (.238/.407/.571) all had sub-par offensive numbers.