Oakland Athletics: What Sheldon Neuse’s call-up means for the future of the team and baseball
By Sean Basile
The Oakland Athletics have officially called up top prospect Sheldon Neuse ahead of September. What does this mean for the future of the team and baseball?
The Oakland Athletics are set to call up one of their top prospects in Sheldon Neuse as August comes to a close. Neuse is the No. 8 prospect in the A’s organization and has had himself a bountiful year in Triple-A.
In 126 games for the Las Vegas Aviators, Neuse hit a scalding .317 with 27 home runs and 102 RBI in nearly 500 plate appearances. He also posted a .389 on-base percentage, .550 slugging percentage, and .939 OPS.
Clearly, Neuse has been one of biggest standout players in all of minor league baseball this year and now he gets his chance at the big show.
What’s so interesting about him is that he’s a natural third baseman and the A’s already have Matt Chapman at the position who’s set to be the at the hot corner for the foreseeable future of Oakland baseball.
That means someone like Neuse needed to show he can play multiple positions, which he’s done this year. He’s spent time at second base (which is probably his best bet up with the A’s) now that it seems evident that Jurickson Profar isn’t working out as well as they hoped.
He’s also done some work at shortstop and left field. We’ve seen this with some of the younger prospects that have done up this year.
Austin Riley in Atlanta came up as a third baseman but had Josh Donaldson in front of him. That led to a switch of positions from third to left field.
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Nick Senzel did the same thing in Cincinnati as a third baseman with Eugenio Suarez in front of him. Senzel played a little at second base but has done a majority of his time in center field this year.
Michael Chavis followed suit with Rafael Devers at third base in Boston.
This is very encouraging for the future of baseball if you ask me. Much like how the “specialists” in the pitching game are becoming less valuable, so too are position players that aren’t flexible in the field.
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The future of this game lies in the versatility of the younger players coming up. It allows for more flexibility in roster management and opportunity for prospects to get on the field even with a star player already blocking their natural position.
We’re going to start seeing more potent lineups as a result, whereas if a guy like Neuse was a strict third baseman, he would probably have to be the designated hitter or else sit and wait to be traded.
It now seems evident that young players are being taught and coached as more complete athletes rather than a master at just one position or discipline.
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The A’s are calling up a magnificent talent who’s going to shine and deepen the entire lineup as well as set the team up for future endeavors.