Who Should Represent the Oakland Athletics in the Face of MLB Competition?
By Jason Burke
It’s that time of year again, baseball fans (and trolls)! MLB Network has brought back their Face of MLB contest, which means we get to pick a new representative of the Oakland Athletics. We have a few solid options this go-around, or we can make a case for Eric Sogard rightfully claiming his spot after being hosed in last year’s competition by an alarming influx of votes in the last hour. Personally, I say we take this silly contest seriously. Yes, that sounds ridiculous.
Option number one is so cool, he even has an alias: Coco Crisp. Alias may be a strong word, because the name we all call him is actually very similar to his given name of Covelli. It’s essentially the equivalent of Clark Kent putting on glasses to hide his secret identity, but seeing that not many people call Superman Clark, the same rule applies for Coco.
Now on to Crisp’s baseball resume. While 2014 was not his best showing, he has been deemed the engine of the A’s offense for years, in good times and bad. Crisp has provided many highlight reel catches in his time in Oakland. The one that comes to mind is his over-the-wall grab in Game 3 of the 2012 ALDS. That catch saved the game, and forced a Game 4. He may as well have had an “S’ on his chest, and other Superman-type references.
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Sonny Gray is at the beginning of his major league career, but he has already shown that he has the makeup to be the ace of the Oakland rotation for years to come. Sonny is a big game pitcher, as made evident on a national stage in Game 1 of the 2013 ALDS against Detroit, matching tight-pant wearing (only sometimes, though) Justin Verlander pitch for pitch.
Last season, needing a win to clinch the second wild card spot on the final day of the season, Gray took the hill and delivered yet again, pitching a complete game six-hit shutout against a Texas team that had beaten the A’s in five of their previous six matchups. Gray’s on-the-field play earns him a nod here.
To close out this piece, we bring in the last reliever out of the bullpen. Yes, the closer. To close we bring in the closer. Boy, I’m clever.
Sean Doolittle is a player that all baseball fans can get behind. Whether it’s his off-the-field charity work, or his improbable climb to the majors, Doolittle is an easy guy to root for. Not that we will make an “official” endorsement for the Face of MLB competition, but if we were to do so, we would readily throw our support to the bearded one.
Doolittle is active on Twitter, and is also quite hilarious. His sense of humor can bring a lot of baseball fans in to voting for our cause, which is to see an A’s player claim all of the glory in this super serious, winner-take-all, no holds barred, fight-to-the-death cage match of pure fun.
The voting has just started, and each day a new team’s fans gets to vote. The A’s turn isn’t for another week or two, but we’ll keep you updated on when to flood your friend’s Twitter timelines when the time comes.
Note: Just because we nominate a player, doesn’t mean that Billy Beane won’t trade them.