Oakland Athletics Reassign Max Muncy, Tyler Ladendorf
Oakland Athletics Reassign Max Muncy and Tyler Ladendorf to Minor League Camp
On Monday, the Oakland Athletics added two more names to the list of players reassigned to minor league camp, knocking their current number of players in camp down to just 39. Of course, that’s 14 away from where it should be, but there’s still over a week left to go before they head north for Opening Day.
This time, it was a pair of infielders sent back to the minor league side of camp: Max Muncy and Tyler Ladendorf. Both are on the 40-man roster, and saw playing time with the Athletics last season.
Earlier in camp, Ladendorf seemed to have a good chance at making the roster. As a super-utility man who can play anywhere in the outfield or on the infield, excluding first base and catcher, he was one of the Athletics’ only potential backup shortstop options aside from Jed Lowrie. However, the addition of fellow utility man Chris Coghlan made Ladendorf’s defensive flexibility much less necessary for the A’s.
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Ladendorf did have a good camp, though – batting .364/.417/.545, with a home run, a stolen base and seven RBIs. It would be a surprise if he didn’t get more playing time with the Athletics in 2016 than he did last season, assuming he keeps up the success at Triple-A.
Muncy, a corner infielder, was much more of a long shot to make the team. In addition the fact that the Athletics have a large collection of first base options and an everyday third baseman in Danny Valencia, Muncy got a long look last season. This spring, Muncy was 5-for-25, but he did have three doubles and a pair of walks – turning what could have been a very underwhelming performance into a solid one.
Those numbers were about on par with what Muncy was able to do in 102 at-bats on the big league level last season, batting .206/.268/.392 in 45 games.
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Both players will benefit from every day at-bats in Triple-A, and the Athletics’ roster isn’t very flexible in terms of options at the moment, so even someone as versatile as Ladendorf just couldn’t make the cut over veteran players who would need to be released if not kept on the roster.
Muncy and Ladendorf will add to a loaded Triple-A roster that will likely include Matt Olson, Joey Wendle, Chad Pinder, Jake Smolinski and Renato Nunez, so the Nashville Sounds will have no excuse for not winning the league championship this season.