Rule 5 pick Tom hoping to make big impression
GOODYEAR, ARIZ. » The confines of Goodyear Ballpark offer Ka’ai Tom a connection to his own past. A member of the Cleveland Indians organization since they drafted him in 2015, Tom has stood in the batter box and roamed the stadium’s outfield before. It was the ballpark he called home in the weeks before baseball seasons began.
Then Tom was acquired by the Athletics in the Major League phase of the 2020 Rule 5 Draft last December. So for the first time in his professional career, his trip to Goodyear wasn’t as a member of the Indians. Between talking to former teammates and going 1-for-3 in with a single against
them, the experience was surreal for the 5-foot-9 outfielder in the A’s 7-3 loss on Monday.
“It’s just a little funny that I spent the last five or so years here,” Tom said. “Now I’m coming back to the stadium as a guest. I’m in the guest clubhouse and everything. It was a different point of view.”
Tom’s new vantage point also offers an opportunity he’s never had before, a+ crack at a big-league roster directly out of camp. Having been selected in the Rule 5 Draft, the A’s must keep Tom on their Major League roster or return him to his previous organization. A roster spot with the A’s is far from guaranteed for Tom, who missed the first two weeks of spring game due to a lowgrade oblique strain.
Tom has roughly
two
weeks to make an impression or risk being sent back to the Indians. At the very least, he won’t have to worry about beating out outfielders Luis Barrera, Skye Bolt and Greg Deichmann for a roster spot as all three were optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas on Monday morning.
“With him being a Rule 5 pick, we want to get as good a look as we can at him,” Melvin said.
Melvin’s first look at Tom in a game setting didn’t come with anything too flashy. He made contact in all three of his at-bats and collected a single in the top of the third. Still, it was enough for the A’s manager to want to see him again.
“He looked good,” Melvin said. “Live body and runs pretty well. He’s going to get some more at-bats for sure.”
Tom said his oblique injury has been under control “for a little bit” but building back up to game speed was a challenge for him throughout his recovery. But after
getting his first hit of spring against some familiar faces, all is starting to seem normal again for the A’s hopeful.
“Just getting back on the field, we have fans now, it’s just a tremendous experience,” Tom said. “Having this opportunity, I feel really good.”
BASSITT IN A GOOD PLACE AFTER OUTING >> Chris Bassitt gazed toward his catcher as the signs were relayed to him in the bottom of the first inning, shaking signs off until he saw something he liked. Then 32-year-old slid his left foot in the dirt a few times, came set, rocked and delivered a 94 mile-per-hour fastball that skipped through the dirt a few inches in front of home plate.
When the righty got the ball back, he knew exactly what he wanted. It was that fastball again. This time he didn’t miss, throwing a dart to Indians second baseman Cesar Hernandez, who swung and missed at the heater and became the first
out of Bassitt’s outing.
Hernandez was the first of five Indians hitter to strike out against Bassitt, who lasted 3.2 innings while surrendering four hits and a run. Outside of a few pitches, the A’s starter couldn’t have been more pleased with his performance.
“I thought it was really good,” Bassitt said. “The fastball was basically there. I feel really good about that. The changeup was there besides the one changeup that I hung. Curveball was unbelievably good. Overall, I feel pretty good about it.”
Of his six-pitch arsenal, Bassitt said just one offering, his slider, didn’t feel right on Monday. It’s a pitch he’s been toying with throughout the spring and in the bottom of the second inning, Indians first baseman Jake Bauers hit it 380-feet for a double to right-center. Bassitt avoided the pitch after that.
Bassitt has been with the A’s since they acquired him from the Chicago White Sox
prior to the 2015 season. In his first two years with the team, Bassitt had a 4.18 ERA and walked 3.5 batters per nine innings. It wasn’t until after he underwent Tommy John surgery and did not appear in a Major League game in 2017 that Bassitt really found his stride.
Since 2018, his 3.29 ERA ranks No. 16 among MLB pitchers who have thrown at least 250 innings. The success has put him in a favorable position.
“This is probably the first time he’s gone into spring without fighting for a job,” Melvin said. “It’s time to work on some things and do the things that he’s earned at this point. It’s work on a different slider grip and work on things to try and get better before the season starts. That’s just the place he’s in right now.”
NEWS AND NOTES >> To make room on their 40-man roster for Frankie Montas, the A’s announced that they returned Rule 5 draft selection,
pitcher Dany Jimenez, to the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday afternoon. In addition to being a victim of a roster crunch with Montas ready to return, Melvin said that the organization did not see what it was hoping to from the former Giants righty.
“There was maybe some command stuff at times,” Melvin said. “He’s thrown harder in the past and we probably didn’t see his best velocity at this point but we saw a pretty good curveball. Since we acquired him, we added a few guys and it probably would have been tough for him to stay.”
• Melvin said catcher Sean Murphy is expected to start for the A’s on Wednesday. The 26-year-old was a late arrival to camp in Mesa after undergoing surgery on his collapsed lung during the winter. After a successful live batting practice session on Saturday, he will not have any limitations in his first start of the spring.