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The day A’s fans have been waiting for since approximately November 29th, 2014 is here. Batting seventh, and starting at second base in today’s game is none other than top-prospect Franklin Barreto, future face of the franchise.
The writing for Barreto’s call up has been on the wall for a little while now, but few expected the call to happen so soon. But with Chad Pinder leaving yesterday’s game with a hamstring injury and going on the 10-day DL, a spot for Barreto opened up and the A’s didn’t hesitate to make the call. Between future-superstar (hopefully) rookies like Barreto and Matt Chapman, and other intriguing prospects like Matt Olson, Jaycob Brugman, and Bruce Maxwell, the A’s of June 2017 are a far different entity than the A’s of the first two months of the season. This team is younger, faster, stronger, and plays with fire rather than contentedly going through the motions.
Whether or not they win more than the previous version of the A’s has yet to be seen.
Barreto isn’t the only prospect in the spotlight for today’s game. Fellow rookie Daniel Gossett is making his third career start for the A’s, and will be opposed by veteran James Shield.
Lineups are below. First pitch is at 11:05.
