A’s trade Jace Peterson to Diamondbacks

The Oakland Athletics traded utility infielder Jace Peterson to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday. In return, the A’s will be acquiring Chad Patrick, a right-handed starter prospect who’s been pitching at Double-A this year.

Oakland signed “On-Base” Jace to a two-year $9.5 million deal in hopes that his patient approach at the plate would stabilize a historically bad lineup. For the first half of the season, Peterson failed to like up to his moniker. Though he still walked at a strong 10.5% rate, he couldn’t hit enough to get his OBP over the .300 mark, going into the All-Star break at exactly .299.

Fortunately for him and the A’s, he caught fire right in time to attract a buyer before the trade deadline. In the 12 games he’s played in the second half, he’s put up a .313/.410/.438 slash line and upped his walk rate to an even more impressive 15.4%. Though he never fully found his footing in Oakland, his infield flexibility and calm veteran presence had value on a young and inexperienced team.

In return, the A’s will be getting the Dbacks’ 2021 fourth-round pick. Patrick wasn’t ranked among Arizona’s 30 best prospects but he put up strong numbers last season at Low-A and High-A, ending the year with a 3.30 ERA while striking out 54 batters and issuing 17 walks in 46 ¹⁄₃ innings. He’s struggled a bit more this year at Double-A, working to a 4.71 ERA in 91 ²⁄₃ innings in 19 starts. He still has solid strikeout and walk numbers but his homerun rate has nearly doubled. The A’s will hope to get him back on track as he tries to carve out a career as a mid-rotation starter.

Judging from this move and the Sam Moll trade earlier today, it’s clear the A’s are focusing on restocking their pitching depth as many of their previous pitching acquisitions have either struggled, gotten hurt, or both. Patrick doesn’t offer the upside that Joe Boyle does but he’s a solid option to have behind the organization’s upper tier of pitching prospects. And as a return for Peterson, who the team no longer needed with Zack Gelof and a few promising infielders behind him, the A’s will be happy to get recent fifth-rounder who has one good season under his belt.