Barrera Makes Good Impression Before Being Sent Down

A hot start and consistently good at-bats from Luis Barrera got the outfielder good reviews before he was one of four players sent down to the minors by Oakland Saturday.

Not all spring training roster moves are created the same.

Take the moves made Saturday by the A’s, the third consecutive day of roster trimming for Oakland. Right-handed pitcher Paul Blackburn and outfielders Luis Barrera and Skye Bolt were moved to the roster of Triple-A Las Vegas and catcher Collin Theroux was reassigned to minor league camp.

All the moves were made before the A's 11th win in their last 13 games, 8-4 over Seattle in Peoria, Ariz. 

Barrera and Bolt are playing the same position, ostensibly at the same level, knocking on the door of the big leagues, but Barrera was sent down having played in two more games with nine more at-bats than Bolt.

Why? Barrera was hitting (.296/.310/.307) and Bolt wasn’t, although he was getting on base (.222/.364/.389). At the time of the move, Barrera was tied for third on the Oakland roster for at-bats with 27.

“It looks like he played winter ball the way he’s swinging the bat well,” Melvin said told the A’s media corps last week. “He’s got (nearly) the most at-bats this spring for us. That’s because he’s swinging the bat well and continued to impress.

“I think he was one of these guys that might have been on a little bit of a faster track had he not been injured. He’s looking to prove something.”

Barrera, 24, is coming off a breakout year – as much of a breakout as one can half when a shoulder injury ends your season in late June. He had a slash line of .321/.357/.513 in 54 games at Double-A Midland. That got him a Texas League All-Star Game berth, and he was that game’s Most Valuable Player.

Bolt, 26, was a little ahead of Barrera last year, putting together a .269/.350/.459 slash line at Las Vegas, which was enough to earn him a late-season promotion that saw him get into five games and get 11 plate appearances (1-for-10) with Oakland.

The way baseball works, they’ll start from scratch at Triple-A, and depending on the A’s needs going forward, one or both could be with the A’s at some point this season.