Atlanta Braves Sign Former A's Outfielder
Back at the beginning of the 2023 season, the A's had a tough decision to make for their Opening Day roster. They had this one outfielder that was hitting the crap out of the ball, another that had a good showing in a brief audition with the club the previous season, and the third was Cristian Pache, a decent-sized piece of the Matt Olson trade with the Atlanta Braves.
The A's ended up trading Pache to the Philadelphia Phillies before the start of the regular season because he was out of options, so it was better to get something for him than just place him on waivers. Pache has bounced around since then, most recently playing with the Miami Marlins. He is currently a free agent.
The guy that was hitting the ball hard during camp was an unproven Brent Rooker, the final player added to the A's 2023 Opening Day roster. That has certainly turned out to be a pretty big decision in the franchise's fortunes, as Rooker was named an All-Star in 2023 and is now seen as one of the ten best hitters in baseball.
The guy with the nice audition was Conner Capel, who lasted about a month in Oakland before being optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas. He had a brief stint with the club that summer as well, but spend most of the year in the minors and elected free agency at the end of the season. He signed a minor-league deal with the Cincinnati Reds last winter, and made it into five games with the team, going 2-for-8.
He recently signed a minor-league deal with the Braves, according to his MLB.com transactions log. This is an interesting signing, because Capel has had success with the bat at the MLB level, hitting .278 with a .359 OBP across 59 games, though he has slugged .398 and holds an OPS of .757 over that span.
Capel, 27, hit just .218 in the minors last season, yet he held a .343 OBP with a .775 OPS and slugged 12 home runs. He has primarily split time between the corners in the outfield in the minors, but he has played solely right field in the Mexican Pacific Winter League where he has continued to struggle with the bat, but has been able to get on base at about the same clip as in Triple-A at .341 in 35 games.
With Atlanta bringing in Olson, Sean Murphy, and Nick Allen, they already have a pretty good former A's starter pack going. If Capel makes it to the big leagues, he'd make a fourth. If we follow the trend, Atlanta had one former A on their club in 2022 (Olson), then followed that up with a second when they acquired Murphy in '23. In 2024 they added a third in Ramón Laureano, and since they non-tendered him this winter, they brought in Nick Allen and Conner Capel to keep the trend alive.
Of course, there have been other former A's on Atlanta's roster during this time, including Robbie Grossman and Jesse Chavez, and future A's like Manny Piña, Freddy Tarnok, and Kyle Muller, who were all a part of the Murphy swap. Sean Newcomb was also on the Braves in 2022, and would make his way to the A's via San Francisco's farm system. It's more fun to think about Atlanta needed to add an extra former A's player every year.
There's still time for Atlanta to grab an Abraham Toro or Scott Alexander from last year's squad to fill out their roster.
Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.