A’s Puk quietly making his mark
MESA, Ariz. — Only a few miles separate the A’s and Giants’ spring training camps, but there’s a philosophical gap that cannot be measured. Either way, the drive is a timetravel sort of adventure, plunging visitors into an entirely different world.
As the Giants played the Cubs on Sunday in Scottsdale, Madison Bumgarner made his first start. On the mound for the A’s in Mesa, against the Royals, was A.J. Puk. As manager Bob Melvin said, speaking in general terms about the two Bay Area clubs, “There’s definitely a contrast.”
Bumgarner is the very essence of the Giants: decorated and respected, trying to summon the greatness of years past. Puk is a complete mystery, outside of the minorleague batters blown away by his stuff, for he has yet to
throw a pitch in the big show.
The Giants are decidedly short on elite prospects, placing just one player on Baseball America’s list of the game’s top 100 prospects (outfielder Heliot Ramos, No. 79). The A’s have four — Puk (30th), infielder Franklin Barreto (43rd), infielder Jorge Mateo (64th) and outfielder Dustin Fowler (88th) — not to mention a potentially glowing future with the likes of first baseman Matt Olson, third baseman Matt Chapman, a host of youthful pitchers and potential-laden prospects such as catcher Sean Murphy, utilityman Renato Núñez (32 homers at Triple-A Nashville last year) and 18year-old Cuban outfielder Lazaro Armenteros, who has dazzled scouts with his speed and power.
“Maybe we should swap a few guys with the Giants,” Melvin joked. “We’ll get more veterans, they’ll get younger.”
Whichever approach you prefer — now or later — the two teams face a common dilemma, maddeningly beyond their control. Even with a respectable year, the Giants could finish fourth in the N.L. West if Arizona and Colorado can sustain last season’s upsurge. The world champion Astros are a lock to win the AL West (with a full season of Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole added to the rotation), and most forecasts list the Angels, Mariners and Rangers ahead of Oakland.
That’s all to be decided in the coming months. On this particular Sunday, cloudless with the bite of unseasonable chill, the A’s were trotting out their best pitching prospect, just 22 and already drawing comparisons to the great Randy Johnson.
“Yes, that’s a bit much,” Melvin said. “It’s more about the look. He’s got the long hair, tall guy (6-foot-7), throws hard, left-hander, not as surly (laughter). It’s more about that than saying he’s gonna go out and be a Hall of Famer.”
Over Puk’s two shutout innings, facing not a hint of trouble, it was encouraging to watch his slow, deliberate walks to and from the mound. Too many pitchers do so in a sprint, like some hustling infielder. The pitcher is different. He’s the sheriff. He needs to show that it all starts and stops with him, and Puk has that commanding look about him.
He’s not terribly chatty, either. “Very quiet,” Melvin said. “But a good kid. Kinda knows his place. I’m guessing at some point, he’ll warm up to me, show that personality I’ve seen from afar.”
So Puk addresses his manager as “Mr. Melvin”?
“Not even that,” Melvin said with a smile. “He just takes in all the instruction, works hard in the drills, keeps to himself.”
Melvin advised that Puk’s first outing wasn’t about evaluation, merely that first taste of wearing an Oakland uniform, but the kid was impressive. One of the scouts behind home plate measured his fastball at 94 mph, and Puk has hit 98 in the minor leagues, in which he struck out 184 batters in 125 innings over two stops in the A’s system last year. For the Royals, it was six hitters up, six down, only one ball struck well, with a strikeout and four routine infield groundouts.
Melvin was right: Puk, the sixth overall pick in the 2016 draft from the University of Florida, isn’t the slightest bit surly. There’s a pleasant demeanor about him, quick to smile. But he’s not much for expansive interviews.
“I was a little anxious to get out there, and it felt good to face hitters in a game,” he said in the clubhouse. “Happy with how I threw my fastball, was able to put it where I wanted to. Threw two curveballs and a couple of changeups. I’ve been working on a two-seam fastball (as opposed to the traditional four-seamer), because it’s a pitch that moves. Got a little sink to it. Gets me some contact off the barrel” of the bat.
It’s safe to say Puk’s family no longer feels the sting of a decision he made as a teenager. His father, David, played major-college football, as did three of his uncles, including Kevin, who lettered at Stanford from 1989 through ’91. It’s in the blood, and A.J. was a quarterback at Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Washington High School, starring as a sophomore and leading his team in the state playoffs. But he could pitch, and he could hit, and in August 2011, he announced he was leaving the football team to pursue a baseball dream.
“When he gave up football, I hated to see those Friday nights die for me,” David told reporters a couple of years later. “We all did. But his pitching coaches told him it was something he should stay with. From there, he just played with his heart and soul.”
And how does A.J. feel about that decision now?
“No regrets,” he said, a veritable spokesman for the green and gold.