Elephant Rumblings: A’s reportedly calling up Luis Medina

Welcome to Tuesday, everyone!

The youth movement continues as the A’s are rumored to be recalling pitcher Luis Medina:

Gomez has been a reliable source in the past so it feels safe to take his word on this. The club itself has yet to announce the promotion but it would fit into the A’s strategy this year of being aggressive with the promotions for their young prospects. This would be one of the more bold decisions though.

Acquired in the Frankie Montas trade last season, Medina would be the third of the four prospects in the Montas trade to make their A’s debut alongside yesterday’s starter Ken Waldichuk and JP Sears (the final player, Cooper Bowman, is struggling in Double-A right now).

The soon-to-be 24 year old righty has slowly climbed the minor league ranks, making it to Triple-A for the first time this year. In three starts for Las Vegas, Medina has tossed just 9 ¹⁄₃ innings with a 3.86 ERA. He’s racked up 11 K’s but also showed very alarming control issues as evidenced by his 8 walks. That’s generally what he was doing when he came over from New York last year.

Medina was on the temporarily inactive list recently, only just getting activated a few days ago. He’d begun building up his arm strength and had pitched four innings just once so far this year. He’s reportedly getting the start on Wednesday for the A’s but it’s unlikely he’ll be expected to provide a lot of innings. He’s be facing Angels left-hander Patrick Sandoval.

Oakland’s #18 prospect according to MLB, Medina has a huge arm. His fastball can hit as high as 100 MPH (but averages 96) and a nearly unhittable curveball with an above average changeup to boot. All of that sounds nice but he’s always struggled with control issues. It didn’t seem like he had fixed those this year as those problems showed again in his three starts for Vegas. The A’s clearly believe in him as a starter right now and are going to continue treating him that way for the time being. If he can reign in those command issues then the A’s might have a top of the rotation arm on their hands. If not, he’ll likely be ticketed for the bullpen in a setup or even closer role. The youth movement continues and everyone will be getting an answer on his long term role sooner than later. Congrats, Luis!

A’s Coverage:

• Willis: A’s move Fujinami to bullpen
• Willis: A’s place Adrian Martinez on IL with elbow strain
• Adams: A’s designate Dermis Garcia for assignment
• Gardner: Commissioner Rob Manfred feels ‘sorry’ for A’s fans

MLB News & Interest:

• Bowman: Braves’ Strider comes close to no-no, still makes history
• Injury updates: Yordan, Rodon, Harris, Alcantara, Verlander
• Trezza/Rill: O’s prospect Holliday youngest in High-A
• Castrovince: These teams are running up the SB totals… and one is on a historic pace
• Deeds: Angels catcher O’Hoppe out 4-6 months with torn labrum
• McDonald: Dodgers promote top prospect Michael Busch
• Polishuk: Astros’ Altuve ahead of schedule in rehab
• McDonald: Marlins call up former A’s prospect Sean Nolin
• Today in Baseball History

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