Oakland Athletics’ Second Base Prospect Joey Wendle Named to All-PCL Team
Oakland Athletics’ second baseman Joey Wendle went into the All-Star break with a very uncertain future, but he’s been on fire ever since the second half of the season started. Since the team returned on July 16, Wendle is batting .342/.365/.500, compared to just .257/.295/.393 before the break. He’s been so good, in fact, that he was named to the All-Pacific Coast League team – the first A’s position player to take home the honor since Taylor Green did it in 2011.
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Big awards are hardly new for Wendle, who was traded to the Athletics by the Cleveland Indians last winter in exchange for slugger Brandon Moss. As a High-A prospect for the Tribe in 2013, Wendle was the recipient of the organization’s Lou Boudreau award – an honor given to the top minor leaguer in the entire system. He also was named to the Carolina League’s Postseason All-Star team that season, and played in the Arizona Fall League, which showcases many of the league’s best prospects.
Wendle is not a flashy prospect, but perhaps he hasn’t been given enough credit. He has 40 doubles this season, in his first year at Triple-A, as well as 10 stolen bases and eight home runs. For someone who’s typically considered more of a power player than a speed guy, those are solid numbers.
After breaking his hamate bone in 2014, he missed considerable development time that might explain his big drop in results in the first half of this season. Whatever the case, he’s back to producing the kind of results that had the Indians’ player development people very excited before his poor performance in 2014.
Could Wendle be one of the answers the Oakland Athletics are looking for? It’s important to remember that he’s only in his fourth professional season, after being drafted in the sixth round of the 2012 draft. He did play four years in college, which typically gives players an advantage over high school picks, but he has had two injuries during his minor league career – the broken hamate bone, as well as a broken orbital bone in 2013 – that have slowed down his trajectory.
But calling Wendle up in September would be a bit foolish in terms of service time considerations. The team is out of contention, and there isn’t anything he or any other player can do to help the team get back in the race. Bringing him up now would start his major-league service clock, when the Athletics likely won’t have a spot on the roster for him through next season, and he still has plenty of growth to do in the minors.
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While he’s hitting well, his strikeout rate is also extremely high, at 18.9 percent, and his walk rate this season stands at just 3.4 percent. He’s still batting like a minor leaguer, swinging at far too many pitches. In the major leagues, that isn’t a way to achieve sustainable success. Add to that the fact that the Oakland Athletics have Marcus Semien, Eric Sogard, Brett Lawrie and Danny Valencia to fill their infield next season, and there isn’t a great reason to start Wendle’s serves time clock this September – no matter how much fans want to see him play.
It still remains to be seen who the Athletics will call up, but the responsible thing to do is to congratulate Wendle on his success in Nashville and keep him off of the A’s roster in September.