First-base coach a top addition
When Al Pedrique played in the Mets’ organization in the mid-1980s, he figured one teammate, a tall outfielder from San Diego, was going places.
“We used to tease Billy in the clubhouse, tell him, ‘Don’t forget about your friends,’ ” Pedrique said.
Billy Beane, the A’s vice president of baseball operations, delivered this offseason, hiring Pedrique as the team’s first-base and infield coach.
“Al was always the hardest worker in the room since he was 18 years old,” Beane said. “He was quiet, and in a minor-league system that was filled with big personalities, everyone absolutely
loved him. He’s one of those guys who listens before he speaks. I’ve always wanted to get him over here, the timing was just never right before.”
Pedrique, 57, was a perfect fit for Oakland — and something of a coup for the team to get. He’s a highly decorated minorleague manager, and he was expected to be a candidate for the Yankees’ manager job when it was open last offseason. He’d taken a team with many current Yankees players, including Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, to the International League title in 2016, and he’d managed many of the team’s best players from the lower minors up.
Pedrique was not offered an interview, and this in a sport that has had only a handful of Latino managers.
“I was surprised,” Pedrique said on The Chronicle’s A’s Plus podcast. “I thought I would at least get a phone call and get invited into the process.
“I was hoping I’d at least get interviewed for the third-basecoaching job or first-basecoaching job. But it happened for a reason, I’m happy in the big leagues with Oakland, and I’m going to do the best I can to help them win a lot of games.”
Pedrique managed up-andcoming center fielder Dustin Fowler at Triple-A ScrantonWilkes Barre. Pedrique also knows the other players the A’s obtained from New York in the Sonny Gray deal last summer, starter James Kaprielian and infielder Jorge Mateo.
“We worked real well together with the Yankees’ organization,” Pedrique said of Fowler and Mateo. “I hope both will be up here pretty soon. Definitely I think Fowler can play in center field every day. This is a kid who can hit for average, he’ll surprise you with his power, very smart baserunner, he’s got some speed and will steal a lot of bases.
“Mateo is the kind of guy a lot of people talk about moving to second base or center field, but I think he’s capable and smart enough and his instincts are good where he can play short every day. One thing he has learned is to slow the game down; that was a big issue when he was with the Yankees.
“The kid has a lot of speed and he always goes 100 mph, so that was the key for him, to understand he needs to be under control and he showed that during spring training.”
Another benefit Pedrique brings: He was born in Venezuela. Last year, Oakland didn’t have a coach on the staff who was fluent in Spanish. That can make a difference, especially for a team with key young players who are from Latin America, including Mateo, Cuban outfielder Lazarito Armenteros and infielder Franklin Barreto.
“There were times we haven’t had someone with Al’s background and language skills,” Beane said. “We knew we had to address that.”
Like Pedrique, Barreto is from Veneuzela. Barreto enjoyed working with Pedrique during spring training and again at the big-league level when Barreto was up briefly as a backup middle infielder.
“Al is really great. He’s very tactical, he instructs me on every little detail, he spends a lot of time, whether it’s me opening my hands, opening my feet, working really hard on getting around the ball,” said Barreto through interpreter Juan Dorado. “He works really hard on every little thing, I really love that about him.”
Pedrique is equally enthusiastic about Barreto and the rest of the team’s young core. “This kid, with the type of swing he has and the power, he can do a lot of damage offensively,” Pedrique said. “That’s another guy, with Fowler and Mateo, (Matt) Olson and (Matt) Chapman — that’s a bright future for this organization.”
Pedrique has held just about every on-field position in baseball, from player to coach to manager, including an interim stint at the helm of the Diamondbacks in 2004 that might best be remembered in the Bay Area for his decision to have Arizona’s pitchers walk Barry Bonds throughout an entire three-game series in September. Pedrique also worked in Houston’s front office, giving him a much wider range of experience than many coaches.
“It helps with the people upstairs because he’s done that job, too, and understands how that filters down,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s managed. He’s coached. There’s a reason we wanted to go get him. Al is just a really good baseball man.” Transactions: On Thursday, the A’s dealt outfielder Trayce Thompson, Klay’s brother, to the White Sox for a player to be named or cash. Oakland had designated Thompson for assignment on Tuesday. Chicago drafted Thompson in the second round in 2009 . ... The A’s also optioned rookie reliever Lou Trivino to Triple-A Nashville a day after the right-hander threw three shutout innings to pick up his first win in Oakland’s 12-11, 14-inning victory over the White Sox.