Center Field — Yes It’s An “Area Of Need”

“Look at me...I can be...center field,” sung John Fogerty but not JJ Bleday. Bleday did an admirable job of trying to pose as a CFer in 2024, but the A’s path to increased success in 2025 and beyond involves moving Bleday over to a corner (if not dealt to another team).

If you don’t believe me and only recall some of the excellent plays Bleday made while generally butchering the position, the stats tell the story. In 2024, Fangraphs had Bleday at a hideous -19 DRS putting him at an even more unsightly -30 DRS in his career 1,861 innings (the equivalent of about 207 games) at the position.

With the exception of “arm” — and even that is mitigated by repeatedly poor decisions, like somtimes throwing to nowhere in particular — Bleday gets negative ratings on each and every metric used to compute his overall score. And because he lacks foot speed, he is not able to overcome the shortcomings he brings to the table.

All of which is to say that the A’s should be looking for a CFer in 2025 along with their need for upgrades at 3B and at the front of the rotation.

The Clarke Factor

How the A’s approach shopping for 2025 depends greatly on how they view Denzel Clarke, whom they hope will be the CFer of the future — ideally the near future. Clarke is a difficult prospect to project and it’s anybody’s guess how the A’s view him internally.

On the plus side, Clarke brings elite athleticism to the equation and some of his struggles relate to the reality that he started playing baseball later than most of his peers. His 2024 season at AA Midland had many ups and those ups were electric. And he has only shone in his AFL performance so far. A strong start to his minor league season in 2025 could easily see him promoted to the big leagues during the 2025 season and his upside includes ample power, plus speed, and excellent CF defense.

On the minus side, Clarke’s 2024 season was inconsistent with both ups and downs and some perplexing stretches where he either hit for power but didn’t walk or where he walked but didn’t slug. And he has always had a need to manage his K rate, something which goes a long way to predicting success or failure at the highest level. Clarke is also 24, making this coming season somewhat of a “make or break” prospect year.

If the A’s think Clarke is “the real deal” they will be more inclined to seek a solid one year stopgap in CF, but if they have a lot of doubts they will more likely seek a young cost controlled CFer who can compete for the long term job.

Long Term Possibility

If the A’s lean towards a player with several cost controlled years ahead of him, one possible target is the Diamondbacks’ Jorge Barrosa. Barrosa, now 23, is often profiled as a “4th OFer” type, and so the A’s would have to be convinced that his upside is higher than the average scout believes. Similar concerns were expressed around Ryan Sweeney, who was dubbed a “tweener”. Is Barrosa another “tweener” or could he hold down an every day job?

Barrosa’s strengths start with excellent CF defense, which is already a lot given that CF is a premium defensive position. However, as we saw with Cristian Pache it’s not enough on its own. But quality CF defense is part of Barrosa’s floor.

As a hitter Barrosa has many strengths, and it’s appealing that he is a switch hitter. At 5’5” or 5’6” (depending on who you believe), he is hard to pitch to and his walk rate is superb: 11.6% at AAA in 2024, a whopping 15.9% at AAA in 2023, and 12.7% at AA in 2022.

Barrosa also makes a lot of contact, with K rates generally hovering between 15%-18% throughout his MiLB career. His batting average has been typically around .270-.280 with an excellent OBP due to the high BB rate.

The downside is that Barrosa does not hit for a lot of power (career .419 SLG in MiLB) and that sometimes portends doom in the big leagues. If Barrosa can’t slug enough to keep defenses honest and prevent pitchers from attacking the heart of the strike zone, all his MiLB accomplishments could produce slash lines like those from the Max Schuemann of today or the Adrian Cardenas of yesteryear.

Still, as a quality defender with some hitting strengths, Barrosa might be appealing as a young player with 6 cost controlled years ahead of him and who would not require too much in return. That’s if the A’s believe in him and don’t believe strongly in Clarke.

Short Term Possibility

Available as a free agent, possibly on a one-year deal, and accomplished in CF is Harrison Bader. He would make sense if the A’s think Clarke is going to be their future CFer, but won’t take firm hold of the position until 2026.

Bader is no star but because of that he might be affordable and he might be amenable to a short-term deal to play in Sacramento. Exactly how good is Bader? That’s hard to say because his career has been a bit like Clarke’s: consistently inconsistent.

Defensively Bader has had 2 sensational seasons, rating at +15 DRS in CF in 2019 and again in 2021. Since then many of his metrics have remained solid (11.0 UZR/150 in 2022, 8.5 URZ/150 in 2023, 2.2 UZR/150 in 2024) but his DRS has plummeted to, respectively, -1, 4, -2. And even the UZR/150 numbers have declined steadily each year to where if the pattern persists he will drop into negative numbers in 2025.

Offensively, Bader has never been great but he’s serviceable. He is a career .242/.306/.392 hitter who has averaged 18 SB the past 3 seasons with around a 20% K rate. Given the double-whammy of being able to shift Bleday over to LF, a Bader signing would improve the outfield in the short term as well as leaving the door open for Clarke to grab the CF position from 2026 on.

So...

So there are two of many options the A’s have in their quest to improve the outfield for 2025. Do you like either of these choices, and if so which one and why? Or is there a different move you would like to see the A’s pursue — if so, please explain your ideas and your reasoning.

And how do you see (or not see) Clarke fitting in to all this? Is he the next big thing along side Lawrence Butler for years or is he a likely bust the A’s had better not be planning around? Another potential factor is Colby Thomas, because moving Bleday to LF takes away a spot that might be Thomas’ very soon. Or not.

Lots to ponder during an otherwise slow baseball time...