Powerful presence in lineup
CLEVELAND — The power potential the Oakland Athletics see in Christian Bethancourt showed in Cleveland.
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Bethancourt, the A’s catcher-first baseman, went 9-for-17 with six extra-base hits, including three home runs, in their four-game series at Progressive Field. Swing after swing by Bethancourt produced sharp contact. Of 15 balls he put into play in the series, 10 had exit velocities of 102.5 mph or higher, per Statcast.
Bethancourt doubled and homered in his final two at-bats Sunday in the A’s 6-3 loss. Entering the day, his expected slugging percentage of .635 — based on exit velocities and launch angles — was seventh-highest among hitters with at least 50 balls put into play this season.
Ahead of him: Aaron Judge, Yordan Alvarez, Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, Joc Pederson and Giancarlo Stanton.
Bethancourt’s actual slugging percentage was .417. The negative differential between his expected and actual slugging rates was second-largest among hitters.
Bethancourt hit his first home run June 1. He said that was two days after he made an adjustment to try to hit the ball in the air more, due to a high groundball rate in the first two months.
“I changed the bat (angle) a little, not so much on top of the ball, and after hitting that home run it gives you a little bit of, ‘OK, maybe that might work,’ ” Bethancourt said. “I also had a strikeout in that game, so I was like, that might be the pros and cons that you take.”
Bethancourt struck out just twice in the Cleveland series, hitting three of Oakland’s 10 home runs over four games. All three were to right-center field on fastballs — at distances of 378, 386 and 425 feet — a sign that Bethancourt is staying back and driving the ball.
“Obviously, he’s seeing the baseball pretty well,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “He seems to have pretty good bat-to-ball skill. But now the power’s starting to show.”
That Bethancourt started all four games — three at first base and one as DH — even as the A’s saw three right-handed starters, indicates his lineup presence right now outweighs any platooning. “I’m going to swing at balls off the strike zone like everybody else does,” Bethancourt said. “But I’m trying not to miss my pitch, the pitch I can try to put good contact on.”
Briefly: Infielder Jed Lowrie did not play in the final three games in Cleveland with wrist and shoulder soreness. Kotsay said Lowrie should be available for the upcoming series in Boston. … Adam Oller, recalled from Triple-A, allowed a run and four hits in two relief innings Sunday, but Kotsay noted Oller threw strikes and “there was some weak contact.” ... Chad Pinder had three hits after being out of the starting lineup for three days with neck soreness.