Offseason leagues and spring training performances aren’t cut and dry determinants of a player’s big league future.
Great offseasons can be sometimes telling and often misleading, as Oakland A’s EVP Billy Beane put it at a Winter Meetings gathering with reporters.
“I had one lights-out spring,” Beane laughed.
But, if anything, some statistics from winter ball leagues can clue us into how some of the A’s players and prospects are developing. Will these numbers tell us everything? No. Will the provide some indicators? Absolutely.
All eyes are on Jorge Mateo, who is one candidate to play second base in 2020 for the big league team (along with Franklin Barreto and Sheldon Neuse).