A’s Prospect News & Notes: Latest on Luzardo, Puk, Holmes, Kaprielian & More

by Bill Moriarity / A’s Farm Editor

On Friday, on the eve of FanFest, the A’s made a number of players, prospects and coaches available to the media at the team’s new headquarters in Jack London Square. That gave us a great opportunity to catch up with some of the team’s most promising prospects shortly before they report to spring training in Mesa next month…

* The A’s top pitching prospect, Jesus Luzardo, was impressive in his first full minor league season last year, starting out in High-A before dominating in Double-A and then finally wrapping up with a handful of up-and-down starts in Triple-A. “At Triple-A, they’re more experienced,” Luzardo said. “But it was a great learning experience. It definitely helped me a lot.” The southpaw has spent the offseason at home in Florida and, in addition to lifting, throwing, running and working out, he said he’s also been doing “hot yoga” and “hot pilates.” Former pitcher and current A’s commentator Dallas Braden says what impresses him most about Luzardo is “his poise and mound presence at such a young age. There’s a confidence about him. And we’re gonna watch that coal turn into a diamond right before our very eyes.” Luzardo is expected to compete for a spot in the major league rotation this spring, and he says, “People tell me I look cool and calm, but deep inside, I’m a very competitive person.” A’s manager Bob Melvin had this to say on the talented Mr. Luzardo’s prospects for the immediate future: “It’s really up to us to try to identify when he’s ready. You look at the stuff and you’d say he’s probably ready right now. But we’re the custodians of his career too, so we want to make sure…we don’t throw too much at him and have to send him back down and mess with his confidence. I think anything’s open – he could potentially start for us, he could potentially go down and get a little bit more seasoning in Triple-A. We’ll just have to take that day by day. But I know we’re awfully excited about having him this year and, at some point in time, I would be shocked if he’s not with us.”

* Pitcher A.J. Puk says he’s been working out at the A’s complex in Arizona five days a week since undergoing Tommy John surgery last spring and that he’s “feeling great.” The southpaw says he’s currently at “the long-toss stage” and looks forward to getting the chance to start throwing off the mound again early next month. He expects to be throwing a lot of bullpen sessions in spring training before hopefully beginning competitive play again sometime in May, June or July. If all goes well, it’s probably realistic to expect Puk to make a few appearances in the Arizona Fall League in late June before moving on to Stockton, where the A’s can keep a close eye on him for a while.

* Pitcher Grant Holmes was sidelined most of last season with a sore shoulder. He says a couple of PRP (platelet-rich plasma) shots helped relieve the inflammation in his shoulder. And after returning to make a few appearances for Stockton late in the season, the righty was set to play in the Arizona Fall League before that pesky sore shoulder began to act up again. This time, the prescription was simple – “rest and Advil.” He’s been working out at the A’s complex in Arizona throughout the offseason, he’s back to throwing again, and he says he feels great. Holmes thinks he’s going to be limited to throwing no more than four or five innings each time out for the first month or two of the season until it’s entirely clear that his shoulder is sound again, but he’s just eager to get back in the game. “It sucks not being able to play the game that I’ve been blessed to play.”

* After working his way back from Tommy John surgery, pitcher James Kaprielian was set to return to the mound last June when shoulder inflammation sidelined him for the remainder of the season. Cortisone and PRP injections helped reduce the inflammation, and the righty made one appearance on the mound in the final game of the fall instructional league. He’s back throwing off the mound, not quite at full force, but he’s thrown a couple of bullpen sessions and says, “I’m feeling good.” Kaprielian is hoping to be ready to go in April and pitch a full season, possibly starting out in Stockton, where the A’s can keep an eye on him. “I’m chomping at the bit. It’s been too long!”

* After spending much of last season sidelined with elbow and forearm issues, pitcher Paul Blackburn says, “I’m completely cleared to go as far as spring training goes.” The righty has been working out at the A’s complex in Arizona all offseason and says there have been no setbacks. “This offseason, we’ve focused on doing a lot of stretching and a lot of strengthening…and it’s been good so far. I’ve been [throwing] off the mound three times…and I feel like I’m ready to go. I just want to go out and compete.”

* Catcher Beau Taylor spent eight seasons in the minor leagues before finally making his major league debut with the A’s last September. “It took some time, but it was worth it,” he says. His first major league game was “the best experience I’ve ever had in baseball.” But when it was announced that he was making his major league debut, with the fans cheering, he claims the umpire, whose name he doesn’t seem to remember, offered him some useful advice. “The umpire told me, ‘Don’t suck.'”

 
* It sounds like the A’s are pretty content with their current catching corps of Chris Herrmann and Josh Phegley, but it’s also clear that they’re eagerly anticipating the arrival of their top catching prospect Sean Murphy, who’s set to start the season at Triple-A Las Vegas. A’s manager Bob Melvin said, “I think that’s one of the reasons that maybe we didn’t pursue [Jonathan] Lucroy like we did is that we know that at some point in time this guy [Sean Murphy] is coming. And we do like the left/right bat situation that we have with those two guys [Chris Herrmann and Josh Phegley]. So, we’re comfortable with where we are right now, and we know Murph’s going to be here. And we know once Murph gets here, he’s probably going to be here for a while. So, that’s part of our thinking as far as the catching situation goes.” About Murphy, A’s catching instructor Marcus Jensen added, “It’s hard not to notice his arm. He’s got an electric arm – it’s a cannon!”

* A’s hitting coach Darren Bush thinks young infielder Franklin Barreto is on the upswing. He said, “I thought Frankie made great strides last year, that last month or so that he was up. We talked a lot about what we wanted him to do, the adjustments he needed to make. And he did everything we asked him to do, and he worked on it every day. And then he took it into winter ball and he had a great winter ball this year. His strikeouts were way down, hit for power, had a good average. So, now he’s got to put it in action here, and we feel very confident that he’s going to.” On the specific adjustments that the team wanted Barreto to make, he said, “We wanted him to shorten his swing up a little bit, just cut some length out of the swing, be a little bit more direct to the ball…and he’s doing it.” And on whether it’s better for Barreto to start the season with the big league team or back at the Triple-A level, Bush said, “He wants to be at the highest level, but you also need at-bats to be successful.” On outfielder Dustin Fowler, who hit well at Triple-A but struggled at the plate for the A’s last year, Bush said, “Fow has a very quick bat…but he was behind in the count often. Once he learns how to make the adjustments…he’ll come right along.” And on young shortstop Jorge Mateo, who struggled at Triple-A last year, Bush offered, “He’s a young hitter in Triple-A against some guys who know how to pitch. He needs to see more pitches, slow down, and don’t try to do too much. Trust what you have, instead of trying to do more. Be patient.”

* A’s utility man Chad Pinder got married in November and proudly proclaims, “Five years rooming with Matt Olson is over.” Besides his longtime roommate, Olson, a number of Pinder’s other former roommates were also in attendance at the ceremony, including infielder Daniel Robertson, outfielder Billy McKinney and pitcher Austin House, along with other former A’s farmhands like Joey Wendle and Renato Nunez as well as current teammate Matt Chapman. The happy couple spent a week honeymooning in the Bahamas before buying a house in North Carolina and settling in. But now his thoughts are ready to return to the diamond. “I’m very excited to get back with the guys, the team, and pick back up hopefully where we left off before we lost the wild card game. At the end of the season, in the locker room, you got this vibe that everyone felt that it was not supposed to be over. And I think that’s made a lot of people hungry this offseason. It’s something that I hope I get another taste of with this group. I want it to be with this group and with these guys. Our team was so special last year. And I know we’re all excited to get going.”

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