Oakland will be reintroduced on Saturday to its Athletics, a group that finished 2017 among the league’s top-performing clubs down the closing stretch.
Of the many faces that will be on display at Jack London Square, three will be brand new. And of those three, two will be replacing fan favorites — among the same spectacle’s marquees just one year ago.
Dustin Fowler and Emilio Pagan understand that replacing Sonny Gray and Ryon Healy will not be easy. Both realize that they are replacing players many fans filing into the Oakland Coliseum day in and day out wished would never play in anything other than green and gold. But both are confident that their play will speak for itself, though letting their play speak may be easier said than done.
The Georgia-born lefty was an 18th round selection of the Yankees in 2013 before serving as the grandest prize in the move that sent the A’s former ace to the Big Apple. Fowler grades out on the high-end of the comparative scale offensively, defensively and athletically — a career .282 hitter in the minor leagues with double-digit home run and stolen base potential and pluses attached to his arm and glove.
Pagan, 26, also made his major league debut in 2017. Appearing in 34 games with the Seattle Mariners, the right-handed reliever overcame tough outings in his first two big league appearances (five earned runs in 2-2/3 innings pitched) to finish his rookie campaign with a very respectable 3.22 ERA. How? He surrendered just 13 earned runs over his final 47-2/3 innings (2.45 ERA).
Pagan features a low- to mid-90s fastball, changeup and slider. That tool belt helped the South Carolina native to a 7-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio (58 strikeouts, eight walks). By comparison, Liam Hendriks finished the season as the A’s leader with a 3.39-to-1 ratio (78 strikeouts, 23 walks).