A’s Call-Up Carter, Donaldson & Mazzaro

The A’s, who currently sit 9.0 games back of the first-place Texas Rangers in the AL West, have called up Chris Carter, Josh Donaldson and Vin Mazzaro to help them end the season on a high-note. The A’s are currently sitting at 72-72, and while the team feels it still has an outside chance to catch the Rangers, the team’s top priority is to just finish the season with a winning record. The A’s have not had a winning record since 2006, when they won the division and made an appearance in the ALCS.

With the way their young pitchers have been coming together, the team has reason to believe that their future is relatively bright. The A’s, for the first time since 2006, have two pitchers with 14 or more wins: Trevor Cahill (16) and Gio Gonzalez (14). As a team, the A’s young rotation owns a 3.57 ERA (3rd in baseball).

Offensively, however, the A’s have not had much success. The team currently ranks 20th in baseball with a .254 batting average, and 29th with just 90 team home runs. So, the A’s welcome back Chris Carter and Josh Donaldson with the hope that the two players can provide some much needed offense. In his brief stint with the big league club, Carter went 0-for-19, and hardly looked like Oakland’s top prospect. This time around, however, the A’s hope Carter can get a few good swings in before season’s end.