A's to take another look at Barreto and Nunez among other September call-ups

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ANAHEIM — Daniel Gossett got off to a shaky start Monday night, righted the ship and finished with what turned out to be quite an effective start in a 3-1 A’s loss to the Angels.

It was a step in the right direction, a sign of development for the rookie, and it’s an example of what the A’s will be watching over the final four-plus weeks of the season.

With major league rosters expanding Friday, the A’s will be adding more young players to a clubhouse that’s already characterized by its youth.

Manager Bob Melvin reiterated before Monday’s game that third baseman/outfielder Renato Nunez likely will be among Oakland’s September call-ups after a huge season offensively for Triple-A Nashville. Expect middle infielder and top prospect Franklin Barreto also to return for his second stint in the majors.

Rosters can expand all the way to 40, though the A’s rarely approach that number. Sources confirmed that two players are likely to be called up for this weekend’s series at Seattle, with more eventually being added. Nashville’s season ends Sept. 4.

Nunez was named Monday to the 12-man All-Pacific Coast League team during a season in which he’s hit 32 homers, tied for most in the PCL with Reno’s Christian Walker. Once a top-five prospect for the A’s, Nunez has slipped all the way down to No. 22*** in the most recent rankings by mlb.com. That’s partly because he doesn’t have a set position defensively.

But given that Nunez is still just 23, with arguably the best power bat currently in the A’s farm system, he’s still a very intriguing player. He’s hitting just .254 but is slugging .529.

“He kind of gets lost in the shuffle with the Chapmans and the Olsons and the Pinders and Barretos,” Melvin said. “But you look at his numbers, man, and you talk to these guys that have played with him, and he can really hit. There’s a good chance he will be here with us and we’ll have to find some at-bats for him, because he can hit, probably as well as any of these guys.”

Nunez came up through the system as a third baseman but the A’s recently have experimented with him in left field. Melvin said Nunez may get the majority of his September at-bats with the big club at designated hitter.

The 21-year-old Barreto, the No. 26 prospect in all of the majors by Baseball America, played mostly shortstop during an 11-game stint with Oakland earlier this summer when Marcus Semien was on the disabled list. He split his minor league season between second base and short. The big-picture question for the A’s is whether they hand the keys to second to Barreto for next season or exercise an affordable $6 million club option on Jed Lowrie.

Gossett will be another young player who’s a focus of the A’s September evaluation. He got himself in trouble in each of the first two innings Monday but got through 6 2/3 innings with only two earned runs allowed in his second outing back from the minors. Gossett, 3-7 with a 5.21 ERA in 12 major league starts, got little help from an offense that struck out 14 times.

“It was good to struggle a little bit and then be able to know … I could pull myself out of it,” Gossett said.

 

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