Barreto's Best and Final Shot with A's

After half a decade in the Oakland organization, Franklin Barreto has his best, and possibly his last shot to be the Athletics starting second baseman. But he's got competition.

The competition for the second base job with the Oakland A’s this season is tightening.

Tony Kemp and Vimael Machin both got off to hot starts this spring and seemed to be close to making it a two-man race.

Not anymore. With three doubles Sunday, one of them a single he stretched into a double, Franklin Barreto is back in the game. He brought his average this spring up to .333 in 33 at-bats. Kemp, unlike Barreto a left-handed hitter, is at .333 in 27 at-bats. And Machin, also a lefty, is at .308 in 26 at-bats.

Oakland management has a curious affection for Barreto. Half a decade ago, they saw him as a star of the future, either at shortstop or second base. Scouts love his tools. And he’s pretty much maxed out at Triple-A, hitting .290, .259 and .295 in the minors the last three season.

You can tell what the A's think of Barreto's potential in the number he wears: 1.

But he has never hit well – or even mediocre – in repeated promotions to the big leagues. He has a .189 career batting average, and last year was simply embarrassing, a .123 average. Even so, when it came time to make the roster for the one-game American League Wild Card games in both 2018 and 2019, the A’s found room on the roster for him as backup infielder, outfielder and pinch-runner. (He didn’t appear in either game).

Kemp and Machin both have their strong suits – Kemp is a left-hander with decent range at second base, and the A’s are short of left-handed at-bat. As a Rule 5 player, Machin must remain on the roster or be offered back to the Cubs. Both a new to the organization, and new is good.

Barreto has been around a long time, a member of the organization since 2014 when he came to the A’s as part of the return for Josh Donaldson being shipped to the Blue Jays. And he’s out of options, meaning the A’s would almost certainly lose him to a waiver claim if he doesn’t make the roster and win the job.

Toward that end, Barreto has told media covering the A’s that he’s refining his approach at the plate, including cutting down on unnecessary head movement.

Maybe it’s working. He’s 6-for-11 in his last for Cactus League games. It’s a good time for him to get hot and maybe convince the A’s that he’s the option they’ve always thought he would be.

As manager Bob Melvin said at the start of the spring training camp, this is Barreto’s “best shot.”