What A’s addition of Jesús Aguilar means for Seth Brown; Forst talks inexperienced rotation
New Oakland Athletics slugger Jesús Aguilar feels he’ll be able to put a disappointing 2022 season in the rearview mirror and recapture the form he showed earlier in his career when he was a National League all-star.
Aguilar, in 129 combined games with Miami and Baltimore last season – and just months removed from arthroscopic knee surgery in Sept. 2021 – hit a career-low .235 with just 16 home runs and 51 RBI in 507 plate appearances.
Those numbers were a notable dropoff from Aguilar’s 2021 season when he had 22 homers and 93 RBI in his second full year with the Marlins. They were also less than half of his totals in 2018 when hit 35 homers and drove in 108 runs, numbers that ranked within the top five in the NL in both categories.
“For me, it’s no excuse for whatever happened last year,” Aguilar said. “My knee was good, I was ready to play. I think it was more a down year.”
But with a fresh one-year, $3 million contract in hand, Aguilar, 32, says he’s ready to bounce back with an Athletics team that sees him being in the lineup most days, either as a first baseman or designated hitter.
Aguilar said he’s changed his stance to better adjust to elevated fastballs, which were hard for him to get on top of last season. Now he said he’s closer to the stance he had in 2021.
“I feel good. I feel ready to go out there and compete,” Aguilar said. “Thank god because the A’s give me an opportunity. I think I’m going to be ready to play. Hopefully, if I stay healthy, I’m going to have a good year.”
“I’m confident because Jesús is confident in bouncing back and that was something I talked to his representative (at MVP Sports Group) about and then talk to him about before we signed him,” A’s general manager David Forst said.
“He’s really focused on bouncing back this year and proving that he’s more the player he was before 2022, so I’m excited for him to get out there and show that.”
Asked if he envisions a platoon situation at first base with Seth Brown, who played 84 games at first base last year, and Ryan Noda, selected in the Rule 5 draft last month, Forst said, “We always feel like the roster and lineup work better when you don’t have a dedicated DH and you have some flexibility to get some other guys in there.
“Obviously, we want to see what Ryan can do from the left side. But I think you’ll find that Jesús’ experience, his power in the lineup, we’ll try and get him in there as often as we can.”
In regards to Brown, who led the A’s with 25 homers and 73 RBI last season, Forst said, “I think I’ll make sure he brings both gloves to camp with him, but obviously with Jesús now, Noda, Dermis (Garcia), I think it’s probably most likely that (Brown) spends the bulk of his time in the outfield.
“But as much as we’ve talked about versatility this offseason, he’s going to come in knowing that he’s got to be ready for both.”
The A’s on Thursday traded left-handed starter Cole Irvin and righty Kyle Virbitsky to Baltimore for infielder Darell Hernaiz. While the move adds to an already deep cache of young infielders, it also leaves the A’s starting rotation somewhat short on experience. Irvin made 30 starts for the A’s last year and might have been in line to be their Opening Night starter.
Forst said Paul Blackburn and James Kaprielian, both coming off surgery, are feeling “great” and expected to have thrown off the mound several times before Feb. 15, saying, “I think it’s reasonable to expect both guys to be ready to go.”
Also in the competition for the starting rotation are JP Sears, Ken Waldichuk, AJ Puk, Shintaro Fujinami, Kyle Muller, Drew Rucinski, and Adrian Martinez.
“We have a lot of guys without experience and that sort of history of going 150 to 180 innings, so I think that was going to be the case either way,” Forst said about the Irvin trade. “We’re going to see some competition in the spring and then I think as the season goes along, we’re going to see guys competing for spots, and I think that’s healthy.
“These guys will push each other. We have seen historically here that when starters compete with one another and push one another, that’s when things go really well.”
Forst said he envisions Hernaiz playing either middle infielder spot.
“The great thing about shortstops is that they do a really good job adjusting when you move them around the diamond,” Forst said. “So depending on where he starts the season and what the roster looks like, I think we’ll make sure he gets time at short, but all these guys are going to have to be versatile and play all over the infield.”