Athletics reinstate Zack Gelof, option Lawrence Butler

Pitching prospect Brady Basso is also getting the callup to make his major league debut.

The Oakland Athletics announced today that Zack Gelof and pitching prospect Brady Basso will get added to the major league roster with young outfielder Lawrence Butler and reliever Easton Lucas getting sent down to Triple-A Las Vegas. Gelof is being reinstated from the 10-day IL while Basso is getting his first major-league callup all the way from Double-A Midland.

There’s a lot to unpack here. We knew Gelof would likely return to the club sometime this series. Abraham Toro, whose .297 AVG ranks 12th in the AL, has been filling in nicely at 2B, but he’ll be pushed back into a utility role now with Gelof rarely missing games.

But it wasn’t clear who’d lose their roster spot when Gelof came back. It looks like the front office chose Butler to be the loser in this round of musical chairs. While his .170/.273/.264 line makes the option look warranted, his underlying numbers tell a different story. After walking in just 3.1% of his plate appearances last season in the majors, he’s almost exactly quadrupled that figure all the way up to an above-average 12.4%.

Moreover, his Statcast data makes him look like one of the unluckiest hitters in the league. Despite a terrible .252 wOBA, Statcast thinks he’s much better with a .320 xwOBA, along with a solid .227 xBA and .404 xSLG. The difference between his actual and expected numbers peg him as the 6th-unluckiest hitter in the league (minimum 100 PAs). Although the move will likely draw the ire of many, if not all, A’s fans, especially with a floundering Seth Brown still holding his spot, it shouldn’t be long until Butler finds his way back. Plus, it’ll be fun to see if his Statcast numbers start to actualize themselves in the Coors-esque environment of Las Vegas.

On the pitching side of these moves, Basso will be getting called up to make his major league debut after just one not-so-good start at Triple-A. He technically got demoted back down to Midland shortly after, a mounting list of injuries to the rotation has thrust Estes and now Basso into the major league picture.

After being drafted to little fanfare in the 16th round of the 2019 draft, Basso, then 19 years old. had a stellar rookie level debut, striking out 38 batters and walking just 8 in 25 ²⁄₃ innings with a 1.75 ERA. However, he hasn’t been able to pitch many games since then, with the 2020 minor league seasons wiped out from the pandemic and Basso undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2021.

When the southpaw finally returned in May 2023, he slowly built his arm back up at High-A Lansing, where he worked an eye-opening 2.64 ERA with a 26% K-rate and 6.4% BB-rate in 44 ¹⁄₃ innings. The A’s then promoted him to Double-A in mid-August, where he dominated even more, leading them to add Basso to the 40-man roster in the offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. As a result, Oakland can call him up without taking anyone off the 40-man and simply optioning the struggling Lucas back to the minors.

MLB Pipeline currently has Basso ranked as the A’s 21st-best prospect, noting his strong control numbers and a nice mix of pitches:

There was a point earlier in his career when Basso was hitting 98 mph with his fastball. Nowadays, he tops out around 94 with the heater to go along with a wipeout curveball in the mid-70s, cutter in the mid-80s that generates ground balls and swing-and-miss and a changeup that continues to improve. That gives him a solid lefty starter mix.

Whether that’ll play at the major league level is yet to be seen, but Basso has the profile to become another unearthed gem who could help the A’s win now and into the future.