Oakland A’s spring training 2017: Three top prospects optioned to Triple-A, roster at 45

The Oakland A’s optioned three players to Triple-A on Friday afternoon. They began spring training with 70 players in MLB camp, but this new round of cuts brings that number down to 45 — of course, it needs to be 25 by Opening Day. Here are the three players optioned on Friday (number in parentheses is their ranking on our Community Prospect List):

• SS Franklin Barreto (#1)
• 1B/OF Matt Olson (#7)
• IF Chad Pinder (#17)

Also see: 1st round of cuts | 2nd round | 3rd round

These are three of the A’s top prospects, and all are on the 40-man roster. Barreto is the best of the bunch, as a consensus Top 60 prospect in all of baseball, and he had an excellent spring in his second year in MLB camp — 13-for-27 with a homer and an 1.167 OPS. The only question left is whether the 21-year-old will spend all year in Triple-A, or hit well enough to force his way into an MLB debut.

Meanwhile, the other two already reached the bigs last summer for brief auditions. Olson only went 5-for-30 this spring, but four of those hits went for extra-bases, including two homers. The question for him will always revolve around his strikeout rate, which he managed to keep under control this month (5 BB, 8 Ks). Pinder also added a pair of homers in the Cactus League, but overall went 3-for-19 with 10 strikeouts. Both players will open in Triple-A, striving for a return to Oakland.

There are now 45 players in MLB camp, though that doesn’t necessarily mean much for game purposes because extras are often borrowed from minor league camp. For example, on Tuesday the Rockies earned their walk-off against Double-A reliever Kyle Finnegan, a prospect who is “assigned to [the] Oakland Athletics” according to the team’s transaction logs (along a couple dozen other prospects) but doesn’t count toward that total of 45.

Here’s the full spring training squad. Players in italics are non-roster invitees. Players in strikethrough have been reassigned to minor league camp. Players with **asterisks will miss the start of the season to injury.