A's Sign Former Atlanta Braves First Base Prospect

Drew Lugbauer has power potential, but a lot of swing and miss, too

The Oakland A's have signed lefty swinging first baseman Drew Lugbauer to a minor league deal with a trip to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee. Lugbauer was originally selected in the 11th round of the 2017 Draft by the Atlanta Braves out of Michigan, and was in their system through the 2023 campaign. 

Lugbauer, 27, made it to Triple-A for the first time in 2023, getting into 25 games with Gwinnett and batting .225 with a .276 OBP across 98 plate appearances. One big red flag is that he struck out in 44.9% of those plate appearances. He did hit three home runs in that time, too, giving him a total of 25 on the season in addition to the 22 he hit in 69 games in Double-A. He hit .261 with a .353 OBP on the season. 

The A's have had a knack for adding former Braves prospects over the last two seasons. Heading into the 2021 season, Cristian Pache was their #1, Shea Langeliers was #5, Kyle Muller was #7, Freddy Tarnok was #14, Jasseel De La Cruz (A's signed him last off-season to a minor league deal. He is currently a free agent again) was #17, and Lugbauer was listed as "power as a carrying tool" by FanGraphs. He has hit 25 home runs each of the last two seasons, and most of that damage has come at Double-A. 

Lugbauer is still listed as a catcher in the transaction logs, but hasn't played the position since 2021, and even then it was one game in Double-A. The last time he got regular reps behind the plate was back in 2018. At Michigan he was primarily a third baseman and split the rest of his time between catcher and first base. 

Twitter user Down on the Farm ranked a number of the minor league free agent hitters, and Lugbauer is third on the list here. A lot of the stats that are included here are from Double-A. 

Exploring the minor league free agent list, a look at which minor league free agents could make an impact in 2024. Free and unlocked ⬇️🔥 pic.twitter.com/NwL2i61OVp

— Down on the Farm (@downonthefarm12) November 30, 2023

Signing with the A's this off-season is a pretty smart move given how in flux their roster situation is. If you're a player hoping to make the Majors, Oakland may be just the place to get that opportunity. That said, Lugbauer may have a difficult time sneaking past both Ryan Noda and Tyler Soderstrom as first base options. 

He did record two outs as a pitcher on May 17, striking out one. According to the game log, that strikeout took all of three pitches, too. Maybe he'll pull a Sean Doolittle and turn into Oakland's late-inning option in 2024. Or maybe with a change of scenery he'll cut down on the strikeouts while launching bombs in Las Vegas, earning him a look somewhere on the A's roster.