Looking Ahead: 3B Remains The Biggest Mystery

Third base has been, historically, a pretty legendary position for the Oakland Athletics going back to the Threepeat A’s of 1972-74 that boasted Sal Bando at the hot corner. Subsequent occupants included Carney Lansford, Eric Chavez, Josh Donaldson, and Matt Chapman. For the A’s, 3B has generally been a position of strength.

Not so much for the recent or current A’s, whose auditioners for the job have been Jonah Bride, Aledmys Diaz, Sheldon Neuse, Jordan Diaz, Kevin Smith, Jace Peterson, Abraham Toro, and Darell Hernaiz.

Ouch.

The bigger issue, though, is not the present but rather the future. Is the next good 3Bman for the A’s currently in the organization or is a trade — no, David, I mean a good one — needed before the problem is solved?

I would posit that the next 3Bman is not on the big league roster right now, as Toro is a decent sub but far from an every day starter anywhere on the diamond and Hernaiz, while he has handled the position well in this series, lacks the arm strength defensively or the power offensively to lay claim to 3B long term.

As for the minors, there is one prospect who would seem like a possible savior and that Max Muncy who, at age 21, is already at AAA and is having a solid season (.274/.371/.511) and splendid month (now 12 for 25 with 5 HR, 3 BB and 2 K so far in August).

Here’s the rub...The A’s aren’t playing Muncy much at 3B. A natural shortstop, Muncy has seen ample time at SS (26 starts for Las Vegas), a fair amount of time at 2B (10 starts), but only 3 games starting at 3B.

In many ways, all the starts at SS (about 2/3 of the games) make sense in that Muncy is reputed to be a solid defensive SS with a tendency to be erratic — something which the minors are to work on and refine — and you generally don’t move a player off of SS if he is capable of handling the position.

Clearly Jacob Wilson should be the A’s SS for the coming years, but as we have already seen there is no guarantee who will be able to stay on the field and so keeping options open at the position is hardly foolish.

It’s a little odd to me, though, that Muncy’s “second position” has been 2B and not 3B. Not only is Zack Gelof established there in Oakland but Hernaiz, along with Cooper Bowman, all provide potential alternatives should Gelof falter. And this does not require a lot of projection, as Hernaiz is already in the big leagues and Bowman is knocking on the door now at AAA.

Brett Harris has not hit in the big leagues (.146/.276/.262) and has never projected to be a great hitter, so it would seem to make sense to fast track Muncy there if at all possible. It’s not as if there are 3Bmen behind him whose footsteps are daunting.

At AA Midland, 3B is being manned by newly acquired Jordan Groshans (JD Davis trade), who is batting .228/.302/.316 at age 24, after batting a similar .224/.321/.327 for the Yankees’ AA earlier this season.

At Lansing, 3B is being manned by, well, Mann: Luke Mann, also 24, a 14th round draft pick who is batting .224/.304/.337.

Probably the most legit 3B prospect in Oakland’s system is about to get his first professional at bat: Tommy White, aka “Tommy Tanks,” makes his debut for the Stockton Ports shortly. It’s a tad premature to plan his itinerary to the big league clubhouse — it’s not even certain that he will stick at 3B, though there are high hopes that he will.

So back to Muncy, he’s really it from the current big league roster all the way down to single-A, and yet he isn’t honing any skills there for whatever reason. All of which makes it seem likely that 3B will be high on the wish list for off-season dealing.

Is there a 3Bman you think would be a realistic and wise target for the A’s if they pursue an off-season trade? Or do you see Muncy as a possibility and if so why is he not getting the reps in right now? Or...what else might the A’s have up their sleeve? I mean Carney is only 67, I’m just saying...