Dustin Fowler arrives in Oakland ready for a fresh start

OAKLAND — Dustin Fowler hobbled into his new clubhouse on crutches, a bulky brace protecting his surgically repaired right knee.

The Oakland Athletics’ likely center fielder of the future didn’t know anybody Tuesday, a day after being traded by the Yankees in the deal that sent Sonny Gray to New York. As Gray’s news conference in the Bronx showed on the A’s clubhouse TV with his former teammates tuning in, Fowler discussed his own journey West.

Fowler is from the tiny town of Cadwell, Georgia, and the first baseball player from home to reach the majors.

“I’m just a small-town boy, I don’t know much about anything,” Fowler said matter-of-factly. “I’m ready to know everything and get to learn everything and get to learn everyone and get my career started here.”

On Tuesday, he quickly got acquainted with his new surroundings and met manager Bob Melvin as the A’s begun the process of evaluating his progress from a freak June 29 injury in the first inning of his major league debut.

He never even got a big league at-bat. Fowler had been on deck when the top of the first inning ended.

Then, running at full speed, the right fielder crashed into the low corner wall at Chicago’s Guaranteed Rate Field chasing Jose Abreu’s two-out foul. He suffered an open rupture of the patellar tendon in his knee when it hit a metal box used for Wi-fi, and was carted off for immediate surgery to repair the damage and close the wound.