Analyzing the Oakland Athletics’ Prospect Haul from Deadline Deals
By Dan Fappiano
Sean Manaea, Starting Pitcher, Part of Zobrist Trade
Jun 18, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Royals general manager Dayton Moore watches batting practice before the game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports
The crown jewel of the Athletics’ trade deadline. Manaea was one of the Royals’ top prospects and being able to ship him out for an aging Zobrist may be one of Beane’s best moves to date.
Manaea is already ranked as the team’s third best prospect and is the A’s best pitching prospect. He is most likely a future top of the line starter and assuming neither he nor Sonny Gray gets traded, he can form a nice one-two punch with Gray atop the rotation.
For his career Manaea has pitched in 33 games and 160.1 innings. In that span he has pitched to a 9-9 record with a 3.09 ERA, 194 strikeouts and 65 walks. What may be more impressive though, is that he has only allowed seven home runs in that span.
Manaea has shown over and over that he knows how to get the job done, and how to be dominant. He is the definition of strikeout machine. Over the four different teams he has played for in his career, his lowest strikeouts per nine innings have been 10.1. For his career he has a 10.9 SO/9. Proving that he knows how to get strikeouts shows that he has the ability to miss bats.
Manea has already made a solid jump to the A’s organization. In his first start for the double A team, he pitched seven innings of no-run ball with three hits, no walks and nine strikeouts. The A’s will be able to move him along at their rate and he should continue to be one of the better pitchers in the minors.
His strengths come in the form of being able to light up the gun. His average fastball sits around 90-96 miles per hour. His fastball seems unhittable at times due to his unorthodox approach. His 6’5″ frame will definitely help his durability and pitch ability.
The largest concern about him is that he needs to work on his secondary pitches. They are coming together, but being able to get a secondary pitch along with a dominant fastball can be lethal for the left hander.
Beane being able to pick up a future stud for an extremely moveable piece in Zobrist is a steal. Overall, the A’s had a very solid trade deadline and should be poised for a good future.