I have often taken issue with where the A’s groom their minor league players to play defense. Best as I can tell, they default to leaving players at the most valuable positions for as long as possible, even if scouting reports suggest a move is inevitable and even if Oakland’s organizational needs appear to be elsewhere.
Perhaps the most glaring example was Grant Green, a shortstop in name only who finally was moved (unsuccessfully) to CF and then 2B. Turns out he can’t really play anywhere. Oakland kept Franklin Barreto at SS a long time even though his skill set screamed 2B — or perhaps CF, which he had tried briefly in the Winter League with some success.