Four Oakland Athletics That Surprised the Most in 2015
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As a follow-up to the Oakland Athletics heartbreaking 2014 season, 2015 was a letdown. Rather than add to a roster that got the A’s to the Wild Card game in 2014, Oakland decided to retool. 31 players appeared in an A’s uniform at some point during the 2015 season that weren’t on the team last year. Between the end of the 2014 season to end of the 2015 season, the A’s made 21 trades that sent out 18 players and brought back 28.
Following a season with so much turnover and disappointment, it can be difficult to focus on the positives the A’s have going forward. I focussed on 4 players from this past season who surpassed expectations to give A’s fans a glimmer of hope for things to come.
Next: 1. Billy Burns
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Billy Burns: I wasn’t sure what to make of Billy Burns prior to this season. I know he had blazing speed on the base paths. Although he had shown he could hit for average prior to coming to the A’s, he only hit .237 between AA and AAA in 2014. However, Burns found his stroke in 2015, leading the team with a .294 average, 153 hits, 26 steals, 70 runs, and 9 triples. He did all of that while playing spectacular defense in center field. When Burns had been up for a couple months this season, I thought the Athletics would have a tough choice on who the leadoff hitter would be in 2016, but by the end of the season, Burns left no doubt that he owned that spot in the lineup going forward.
Next: 2. Mark Canha
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Mark Canha: It is rare that a Rule 5 draft pick has an impact at the Major League level but nevertheless, the A’s were ecstatic when they were able to trade Minor League pitcher Austin House to the Colorado Rockies for Mark Canha after he was selected 2nd in the Rule 5 draft prior to last season. Canha started the year strong and as of May 2nd, had an impressive triple slash of .297/.350/.459. However, he had been fighting through a respiratory illness since the end of spring training and a month into the season it began to reflect in his numbers at the plate.
After the illness subsided in June, it took a while for Canha to regain his timing and then he took off in August. From August to the end of the season, he slashed .280/.338/.474 while hitting 8 HR’s. The interesting thing about Canha is that he is a right-handed batter who hit righties better than lefties this season. Canha hit 50 percentage points higher against righties than lefties with an OPS of .821 as opposed to .587. I look for that to improve going forward due to the fact that throughout Canha’s five years in the minors, he hit lefties significantly better than he hit righties. Canha also showed that he is very capable of playing both first base and left field, making Ike Davis expendable after his disappointing 2015 season.
Next: 3. Danny Valencia
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Danny Valencia: It was surprising when the Blue Jays waived Danny Valencia who was enjoying a career year. When the A’s claimed him off waivers and I saw how he had produced up to that point of the season, I kept holding my breath waiting for the wheels to fall off thinking there had to be a serious issue with the guy, but he continued to mash pitching just as he had in Toronto. I like to think of him as a 5th player the A’s received in the Josh Donaldson trade since Donaldson’s presence on the Blue Jays roster made Valencia expendable to them.
In just 345 at-bats, Valencia had 18 home runs and 66 RBI while batting .290. Many A’s fans despise the Donaldson trade, but if you compare the would-be stats of a Donaldson/Eric Sogard combination for this season to the Valencia/Brett Lawrie combination and project their stats over the same number of at-bats, the Valencia/Lawrie duo compares well, hitting .271 with 37 HR’s with the Donaldson/Sogard duo at .278 with 42 home runs. Considering that we also received starting pitcher Kendall Graveman, potential 2016 rotation candidate Sean Nolin, and the organizations number one prospect, Franklin Barreto, this deal might pan out better for the A’s in the long run.
Next: 4. Josh Phegley
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Josh Phegley: I liked Derek Norris, but when the A’s acquired Josh Phegley as part of the Jeff Samardzija trade (both right-handed hitting catchers), I knew Norris would soon be traded. In the 2014 AL wild card game against the Royals, Norris’ throwing arm (or lack thereof) had been exposed while allowing 7 stolen bases to 7 different Royals while only throwing out Eric Hosmer (who only had 4 steals that whole season).
Up Next: Oakland Athletics Prospect Profile – Raul Alcantara
Phegley was a guy who mashed minor-league pitching with a triple slash of .316/.368/.597 with 15 HR’s in just 231 at-bats in 2013 and .274/.331/.530 with 23 HR’s in 2014 but struggled to find any consistent at-bats at the major league level. In 2015, Phegley showed off his above average defense and his cannon of an arm while throwing out 39% of base runners. Phegley also demonstrated his power with 9 home runs in only 225 at-bats, and excelled in his half of the catching platoon with Stephen Vogt with a triple slash of .276/.323/.466 against lefties. The Vogt/Phegley platoon gave the A’s more production from the catcher position than any other team in baseball where they posted a triple slash of .259/.328/.467 while leading the majors in total bases and OPS, and finishing 2nd in home runs, RBI, and doubles.