Oakland A's Promote 2024 Draftee to Triple-A

Jason Burke | Sep 18, 2024

Jun 1, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of an Oakland Athletics hat and glove on the field against the Atlanta Braves in the sixth inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images / Brett Davis-Imagn Images

The Oakland Athletics have promoted 2024 third round pick Joshua Kuroda-Grauer to Triple-A Las Vegas according to his MiLB player page. He has spent the first 24 games of his pro career primarily stationed at shortstop, while also getting a few games here and there as the team's DH. The playing time may not be consistent this week with Darell Hernaiz serving as the club's shortstop, but this will be a good opportunity for Kuroda-Grauer to get a look at Triple-A pitching ahead of his first offseason.

Promoting a player from the lower minors to the step below the big leagues isn't necessarily uncommon. This happens fairly often with pitchers when the big-league club takes a reliever or two, and the Triple-A club needs a fresh arm. In this case, the Aviators need a backup shortstop with Max Muncy and Abraham Toro both currently on the IL.

The former Rutgers product has had a very nice start to his pro career, beginning in Stockton with a number of other 2024 draftees, before moving on to the Lansing Lugnuts after a couple of weeks. Lansing's season is over, so Kuroda-Grauer was available for this move. In 12 games in High-A, he hit .286 with a .400 OBP and two doubles, walking five times against three strikeouts. Overall, he has drawn 12 walks compared to racking up eight strikeouts, which is an impressive feat, albeit in a small sample size.

One thing that the A's will likely have him work on this winter is getting the ball in the air a little more. In 96 at-bats between Stockton and Lansing, he has put the ball on the ground twice as much as he has put it in the air. That's good for racking up singles, but perhaps there is more to tap into there. Just two of his 33 hits in the minors have gone for extra bases thus far, so even if he's just finding gaps and collecting doubles, that would be a huge difference-maker in the type of player he could become.

Kuroda-Grauer did not play in his first game on the Las Vegas roster, though with the regular season ending on Sunday, it's likely that he'll get some brief opportunity to get up and show what he can do before the season is over.