So in an attempt to latch on to anything resembling good news regarding the A's, I've taken daily interest to Michael Choice, who's made my effort easy by actually producing lately. His line for the year, and monthly splits (the fourth number is Ks):

Season: 273/371/559/45

April: 247/354/481/29

May: 254/353/509/37

June: 263/372/505/22

July: 438/486/1094/7

The Ks are still there, but he seems to have made gradual improvements, especially of late. But I think it's most notable that he's raised his batting avg, while decreasing Ks, indicating (hopefully) his conscious and successful effort to address the concern w/ his K rate/contact skills. 

But then I was reading a chat transcript of ESPN's Keith Law, and he said something interesting:

"No, I've heard he's the same guy, but it's the Cal League, and as a minor league season goes on players are promoted up so the competition a player faces in April isn't the same that he faces in August. He needs to move up to AA, but the swing/approach issues are still there."

Which led me to think, maybe the A's should promote him to AA to see what he can do? Keith Law is a pompous douchebag whose skills lie in making himself sound much more informed/intelligent than he actually is, so I'm not having a knee-jerk reaction to what he said. But the idea itself is at least interesting, and I've been thinking that it'd be cool to see what he can do in AA.

Yeah, yeah, not good to rush prospects, etc. But he really is mashing A+ and Cal League is known to be friendly to hitters anyway, so performance there may not be all that useful to gauge what he can do in the future (as opposed to a player who is bombing, which might indicate that he can't hit, period). I understand he's still young, but he's not exactly spring chicken. Also, A's being patient w/ young hitters hasn't exactly yielded a gold mine in recent years, so maybe they should try something different?*

*On a side note, it feels like the A's have been much more daring w/ promoting pitchers and giving them lots of chances to succeed at the higher levels, which seems like the exact opposite approach they've taken w/ hitters (patient through the system, short-leash at the Majors).

On a less interesting note, would love to hear what you guys think of the following minor leaguers:

Michael Taylor (is he done?), Jai Miller (just another Matt Carson?), Ryan Ortiz, Matthew Sulentic (I vaguely remember this kid being a prospect once), and Michael Gilmartin.

Thanks for your time.