SEATTLE — The Oakland Athletics optioned struggling rookie outfielder Cristian Pache to Triple-A Las Vegas prior to Thursday’s series opener against the Mariners.
Pache, 23, acquired in March from Atlanta in the Matt Olson trade, spent the first 77 games of the season on the A’s roster. He played strong defense in center field but is batting .159 with a .427 OPS in 214 plate appearances. Both marks were the lowest among qualified MLB hitters entering Thursday.
“We’ve obviously had enough time to really evaluate where he’s at,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “We’ve gotten a good look at him offensively over, I think, a long period of time to know there’s signs of him over the last two weeks of moving in the right direction and we feel confident he’s going to continue to do that in an environment that is going to give him an opportunity to have success and be back here.”
Until Thursday, Pache was the lone player of 12 acquired by the A’s in their spring teardown trades to remain on their major-league roster all season, starting 60 games in center. His exit velocity and hard-hit rates — both in the top third of MLB hitters entering Thursday — were encouraging but not translating to success.
While hard luck might have been one factor — his .210 batting average on balls in play was well below the MLB average of .289 — Pache had no home runs since April 21 and just four extra-base hits, all doubles, since May 1. His 26.2% strikeout rate and 5.1% walk rate both rank in the bottom 25% of hitters.
Pache’s 58.5% groundball rate is well above the 45% MLB rate. He is chasing non-strikes at a lower rate (27.3%) than league average (28.3%), but his swing-and-miss rate of 30.2% is high. Nearly a third of the pitches Pache has seen are sliders. He is batting .190 against sliders but with a 45.5% whiff rate, per Statcast.
“I think the in-zone contact rate is good,” Kotsay said. “All right-handed hitters are susceptible to swing-and-miss on good sliders. I think he’s at a place where he understands ... what to do to get back here, which is consistent at-bats, consistent line drives. From that standpoint, I think it’s the right time to kind of give him a breather as well.”
Kotsay said Pache took the A’s decision “well. Not everyone gets here and has immediate success. ... It doesn’t mean you’re not going to come back and have success. Sometimes it takes longer for others to figure it out here. But I’m confident that he will.”
Other moves: Also Thursday, the A’s placed infielder Jed Lowrie on the 10-day injured list because of a sprained left shoulder and optioned reliever Adam Oller to Triple-A. Oakland recalled right-hander Adrián Martínez from Triple-A to start Thursday’s game in Seattle, reinstated outfielder Skye Bolt from the 60-day IL and selected infielder Vimael Machin from Triple-A. Reliever Adam Kolarek was designated for assignment to clear a 40-man roster spot.
Lowrie had an MRI exam Thursday and the A’s were awaiting results, Kotsay said. Lowrie had played in six games since June 9, when a base runner ran into his left arm in Cleveland, and is hitless in his past 25 at-bats. Kotsay said the A’s “didn’t feel there was a need” for an earlier MRI on Lowrie.
“Jed had made a lot of progress from the initial injury,” Kotsay said, “and as we put him back into the playing environment, he felt like he was regressing.”
Matt Kawahara covers the A’s for The San Francisco Chronicle.
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