Athletics 2014 season review: Bryan Anderson goes 0-for-1

Jim Johnson was the most prominent Oakland A's player to wear No. 45 last season, but he wasn't the only one. After he left, the jersey number was claimed by backup catcher Bryan Anderson. It's possible that you've never heard of Anderson, but he is a professional baseball player who played for the A's in 2014. Once.

Player profile

Name: Bryan Anderson, aka Who? (no, Who's on first)
Position: C
Stats: 0-for-1, GIDP
WAR: negative-0.1 bWAR, 0.0 fWAR
How he got here: Acquired from Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 24
2014 Salary: Salary not readily available (likely a portion of MLB minimum)
2015 Status: Pre-arbitration, under team control
2015 Salary: Salary not readily available (likely a portion of MLB minimum)

Season summary

The A's picked up Anderson from the Reds on the same day they picked up Geovany Soto. They had already lost two of their three catchers (Vogt on defense, Jaso completely), and Derek Norris seemed like he was on his last legs. Oakland needed some depth, and for the price of some international bonus slot money they got an extra extra body.

Anderson was called up on Sept. 1 when rosters expanded, and his job was to wait on the bench in case of an emergency situation. That emergency never really came, though, and Anderson only made it into one game the entire month. On Sept. 18, with the A's trailing 7-2 to the Rangers in the bottom of the ninth, he pinch-hit for Norris with one out and a runner on first against reliever Spencer Patton. He swung at the second pitch and pulled a grounder down the first-base line for a 3-6-1 double play to end the game. That was his 2014 MLB season. Two pitches, one swing, two outs, and not a single inning of defense. He had easily the most boring campaign of anyone on the 2014 A's.

In case you're wondering, this is a picture of Anderson.

If he were to record a musical album of songs about baseball, the photo on the cover would probably look something like this.

Of course, Anderson is one of the relatively few players on this 2014 review list who is actually still in the organization. He's not on the 40-man roster, but he's in camp and should be starting games for Triple-A Nashville this year. He was a Top 100 prospect in his early-20s, and last year (at age 27) he hit .311/.379/.497 in 57 Triple-A games with 20 walks and only 36 strikeouts. In his MLB career, he's at .206/.261/.270 (46 OPS+) in 63 plate appearances for three teams over four seasons. With Jaso and Norris both traded, Anderson is now third on the catching depth chart behind Stephen Vogt and Josh Phegley.

And that's everything I have to say about Bryan Anderson. He's a left-handed hitting catcher who is in the A's organization, and one time he played for them. Maybe he will again one day, but only if something goes wrong.

2014 season grade, relative to expectations: N/A ... One plate appearance isn't enough to grade anyone.

2014 season grade, overall: N/A

Video highlights

Shockingly, MLB.com actually has Anderson's one and only plate appearance in its video section. After all, it was a game-ender.

***

And now, you know that Bryan Anderson exists, if you didn't already.