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The Oakland A’s will be without one of their biggest stars indefinitely, but in the meantime a notable prospect will get a long-awaited chance in the majors.
The A’s placed CF Ramon Laureano on the 10-day injured list on Tuesday, the team announced. The diagnosis is a strained right hip, retroactive to May 28.
Laureano last played on May 27, and then he was scratched from the lineup the next day with what was termed as groin tightness. He hasn’t played since and has now missed four games. Manager Bob Melvin has “no idea on the timetable,” per Matt Kawahara of the S.F. Chronicle, adding, “Until he can run at a decent clip then this one’s just kind of an unknown.”
Oakland’s offense is already scuffling a bit as it is, ranking 18th in the majors in runs-per-game, and one of their top issues is that they’re not getting on base enough. The absence of Laureano won’t help any of that, as he’s been one of their best hitters overall and ranks fourth on the team in OBP — in the four games he missed so far, the A’s scored just 10 total runs. And that’s before getting to his speedy work on the bases and his superb defense in CF.
Fortunately, the outfield is one area where Oakland has some interesting prospects at the ready for such an emergency. In this case they called on Skye Bolt, a switch-hitter who can play all three positions and has plenty of experience in center. The 27-year-old is off to a monster start for Triple-A Las Vegas, showing off his combination of power, patience, and speed, and cutting down a strikeout rate that had been problematically high in the past.
- Bolt, AAA: .375/.488/.625, 178 wRC+, 3 HR, 15.0% BB, 18.8% Ks
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Bolt in the majors, as he made his MLB debut for the A’s in 2019 and got 11 plate appearances spread over five games. He didn’t get the call during the abbreviated 2020, then this spring he was briefly lost to the Giants on waivers and appeared in two MLB games for San Francisco in April. But he was waived again and made his way back across the Bay Bridge, and now he’s back in the bigs.
Bolt barely missed our Community Prospect List Top 30 over the winter, but did get an alternate spot at No. 31. He was originally drafted by the A’s in 2015, in the 4th round, and has played in their system ever since, other than his quick foray across the Bay in April.
Here’s the updated roster and injury report.
| Pitchers | Hitters |
|
Starters Chris Bassitt (R) Sean Manaea (L) Frankie Montas (R) Cole Irvin (L) James Kaprielian (R) 60-IL: Mike Fiers (R) Relievers Lou Trivino (R) Jake Diekman (L) Yusmeiro Petit (R) Sergio Romo (R) Burch Smith (R) Cam Bedrosian (R) Deolis Guerra (R) Jesús Luzardo (L) IL: Reymin Guduan (L) IL: J.B. Wendelken (R) 60-IL: Trevor Rosenthal (R) |
Catchers Sean Murphy (R) Aramis Garcia (R) Infielders 1B: Matt Olson (L) 2B: Jed Lowrie (S) SS: Elvis Andrus (R) 3B: Matt Chapman (R) DH: Mitch Moreland (L) UT: Tony Kemp (L) UT: Chad Pinder (R) Outfielders Mark Canha (R) Seth Brown (L) Stephen Piscotty (R) Skye Bolt (S) IL: Ramon Laureano (R) |
Injury report:
- RHP Trevor Rosenthal, 60-day IL, thoracic outlet surgery (July at least)
- RHP Mike Fiers, 60-day IL, elbow (shut down 5/8; moved to 60-day 5/21)
- RHP J.B. Wendelken, 10-day IL, oblique (began sock throws 5/18)
- LHP Reymin Guduan, 10-day IL, groin (no details yet)
- OF Ramon Laureano, 10-day IL, hip (no timetable yet)
