With Ben Zobrist and Yunel Escobar coming to Oakland, Billy Beane had to trade away the A’s top prospect in Daniel Robertson. Robertson was what allowed the A’s to trade away their other top prospect, Addison Russell, in July. It’s basically unprecedented for a team to trade both of its top shortstop prospects away in just six months, so what allowed the A’s to do it?
Franklin Barreto. Barreto was acquired in the Josh Donaldson trade, and even though he’s not the biggest name in the deal, he could be the one making the biggest impact. And that impact can be seen even before he puts on an A’s uniform.
Barreto is just 18 years old, and now that Robertson is gone, he is the new shortstop of the future for the A’s. That’s a lot of pressure for a teenager, but if he keeps up his performance from last year, he could be a legitimate superstar.
In A- ball in Toronto’s system, Barreto slashed .311/.384/.481 while stealing 29 bases in just 79 games. That’s a 60-steal pace over a full season.
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In Kiley McDaniel’s article on Fangraphs, he calls Barreto “well-built for 5’9/175 and his swing does a good job staying balanced for contact while also transferring his weight and giving him a chance to hit 10-15 homers per year at maturity.”
Combine that power with his incredible speed and he could be an incredible talent in the big leagues. But when will he be ready to play at the major league level?
He hasn’t played in a full season yet, and he still is just a teenager so I’d be completely shocked if we see him at all this year or next year in Oakland, and probably not until late 2017 or 2018. Realistically, 2019 or 2020 could be a feasible debut year as well. Keep in mind though, that even though 2020 sounds far away, he would be just 23 years old, one year younger than Josh Donaldson was when he made his debut.
But the A’s still need someone to play shortstop for at least the next three years and maybe more. Yunel Escobar is under contract through the 2016 season with a team option for 2017. But he’s 32 and he definitely declined last year both offensively and defensively with his OPS dropping from .698 to .664 and his dWAR dropping from 1.4 to -1.6. If that keeps up, the A’s will probably trade him or not pick up his option in 2017.
Escobar will be given the opportunity to be the everyday shortstop for the next couple years, but if he struggles, Marcus Semien could get the job. Semien was expected to be the A’s everyday shortstop before the trade, but now he may be groomed into more of a utility role. However I wouldn’t be surprised to see him end up as the everyday shortstop in a couple years. He’s just 24 and under team control through 2021, so that should give Barreto more than enough time to become big-league ready.
Barreto’s presence is what allowed Beane to make this move, and it may allow him to make a future trade regarding either Escobar or Semien a couple of years down the line. What do you think about the trade? Let me know on twitter @mattmcsports27 or in the comment section below!