Atlanta Braves add another for Oakland A’s player

The Atlanta Braves added another familiar face to Oakland A’s fans, bringing in outfielder Ramón Laureano ahead of Saturday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays. The 29-year-old signed a minor league free agent contract with the club after being released by the Cleveland Guardians in late May. With the injury to Michael Harris II, this created a need for Laureano in Atlanta. To make room for the former Oakland A’s, Atlanta moved Spencer Strider to the 60-day IL. According to Mark Bowman, Harris II will be out for a “long time.”

In his debut, Laureano went 1 for 4 with a single while hitting ninth. He also flew out to left on a ball that would have been a home run in 25 of 30 stadiums. Truist Park is not one of those parks.

Part of the reason Cleveland decided to part ways with Laureano was due to his lack of offensive performance. In 31 games (81 plate appearances), he hit .143 with a .265 OBP and a 53 wRC+. You could look at these numbers and say they’re for a small sample size, but his 38.6% strikeout rate is certainly concerning. That’s ten percent more than in any previous season of his career.

With Laureano in Atlanta, he joins other former fan favorites from their time in Oakland, Matt Olson and Sean Murphy, both traded to the Braves, and Jesse Chavez, who had solid seasons in the green and gold in the beginning. of her career.

Olson, Murphy and Laureano were all teammates from 2019 to 2021 in Oakland. Laureano’s previous stop with Cleveland this year included another reunion with former teammate Stephen Vogt, who was named Cleveland’s manager during the offseason.

Laureano is an intense competitor best remembered in Oakland for the ridiculous throws he made from center field and for attempting to fight the entire Houston Astros dugout in 2020 after getting knocked down one too many times . When he’s doing well, he’s an All-Star caliber player. We’ll see if Atlanta can get him back to that level of play.