On crutches, newcomer lauds Oakland
Several A’s players turned their attention to the big screen in the clubhouse when Sonny Gray was at his New York news conference, saying he was elated to be a Yankee.
Meantime, one of the three prospects the A’s received in Monday’s trade was standing on the other side of the clubhouse on crutches, answering questions from reporters ahead of the A’s 10-4 loss to the Giants on Tuesday.
It was a telltale moment a day after Gray was sent to the possibly playoff-bound Yankees for three players who won’t help the A’s anytime
soon — but could be big contributors in the distant future.
“I’m happy. I want to be here,” said center fielder Dustin Fowler, who had seasonending knee surgery last month. “It’s good to have a team that wants me like this. There are a lot of prospects in the Yankees’ organization, so it’s good to kind of get away, be with a new team now.”
Unlike the Yankees, the A’s have no postseason aspirations and can look only to 2018 and beyond, which is why Fowler, shortstop Jorge Mateo and pitcher James Kaprielian now are their property.
Combined, they’ve played one big-league game, and that was Fowler’s on June 29, which started as one of the best days in his life.
In the first inning of his first major-league game — slated to make his first big-league plate appearance leading off the second — Fowler ruptured the patellar tendon in his right knee while crashing into a low wall pursuing a foul ball in Chicago. He had surgery that night to repair the tendon and close an open wound. He did not get to the plate. “That’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Fowler said. “You’ve got the whirlwind of having your debut, then getting there and getting hurt and having surgery that same night.
“It’s pretty crazy how it happened, but everything happens for a reason. It brought me here, and I’m ready to see where this journey goes.”
Kaprielian also is shelved (recovering from Tommy John surgery) and won’t pitch again until at least May. Fowler, who said he expects to be recovered by December, is expected to compete for the Opening Day job in center field.
Manager Bob Melvin sees a fit in center, especially with Fowler’s speed, power and defensive abilities.
“He looks to be exactly the type of athlete we’re looking for,” Melvin said. “We need to get a little bit more athletic within our system. He’s a good start for that, and it looks like Mateo is as well.”
On Mateo, who’ll be playing shortstop for Double-A Midland after the Yankees tried him in the outfield as well, Fowler offered a glowing scouting report: “A freak athlete, one of the fastest guys you’ll see. A lot of potential. Still kind of young, but when he figures a lot of things out, he’ll be really special.”
Fowler, who wears contacts when he plays, wore glasses as he introduced himself to A’s players. It’s his first time in California — he’s here to resume his rehab — and he calls himself “just a small-town boy” from Cadwell, Ga. Population: 526.
“A bunch of woods, a bunch of nothing there,” Fowler said. “Especially going to New York, it was a culture shock. Being here, I think I’m going to like it. Kind of a laid-back pace here.”
Fowler is the first big-leaguer from Cadwell. Demaryius Thomas of the Denver Broncos and retired UFC fighter Anthony Johnson are from the area.
Kendall Graveman was Gray’s locker neighbor and actual neighbor — their doors were a few feet away in a Walnut Creek apartment complex — and said he’ll miss talking to his buddy.
“I think I’ll miss him like a person in a family more so than as a pitcher,” Graveman said. “The Yankees didn’t just get a good pitcher, they got a good person.”
Gray will make his Yankees debut Thursday in Cleveland and said at his news conference, “I think as a kid growing up around baseball like I did, every kid wants to play for the Yankees. It’s not something that I’m going to take for granted.”