How to Predict the Oakland A's Next Call-Up

Jason Burke | May 5, 2024

May 4, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics infielder Brett Harris (77) celebrates in / Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports

There is a chance that the next player in line to get called up to the Oakland A's could be outfielder Daz Cameron. Not only is he hitting .284 with a .398 OBP, three homers, and six steals, but he's following in the footsteps of other recent call-ups.

All season long, the Las Vegas Aviators, the A's Triple-A affiliate, have been batting certain players at the top of the lineup, and nearly all of those players have been called up within a couple of weeks of batting leadoff consistently.

Those players include Esteury Ruiz (11 games), Max Schuemann (3 games), Darell Hernaiz (6), Brett Harris (7), and Hoy Park (1). You may have noticed that four of those five players are currently with the red-hot A's, with the only exception being Park.

With Harris getting the call to the big leagues on Friday, Daz Cameron has taken over the leadoff spot in the Vegas order, giving him five starts at leadoff on the season. It's almost like he knows what that spot in the order means, because he has gone 9-for-22 (.409) as the table setter.

Now, we could argue that in the case of Hernaiz and Ruiz, there was a pretty good shot that they were going to make it back to the Majors sooner rather than later, and each of them was called back up in short order. Yet, in the case of Harris and Schuemann, nothing was guaranteed at all. Both have been solid players in recent years, and were obviously on the verge of making their debuts this season, but they each forced the issue.

The other part of this that doesn't quite add up is where the A's would put Cameron on the roster with so many outfield options already in Oakland. Right now, there's Tyler Nevin, Lawrence Butler, JJ Bleday, Brent Rooker, Seth Brown, and Esteury Ruiz. With Cameron being a right-handed bat, that would seemingly limit the options the A's have to clear space for him too, unless they don't mind subbing a lefty for a righty.

The other tricky part of this situation is that Daz isn't on the A's 40-man roster, so to clear room for him there, the team would have to DFA someone else, and they're out of viable 60-man options. As the season evolves the roster will too, but with the A's humming along right now, an imminent arrival doesn't seem too likely.