The A's have two players that could very well be their shortstop come Opening Day in Nick Allen and Darell Hernaiz. Allen, 25, doesn't have anything left to prove in Triple-A, but he has struggled at the plate in the time he's received at the big-league level. Hernaiz, 22, is looking for an opportunity.
A's General Manager David Forst gave some thoughts on which player could be the team's Opening Day shortstop on A's Cast on Wednesday.
"Look, Nick played really well the last couple of months. The last time he came up, he made an adjustment offensively. Defensively, the game slowed down for him. I think Nick has sort of the upper hand in that battle right now. He deserves to be there."
Allen hit .221 with a .263 OBP and a 55 wRC+ last season across 106 games. If you take his first half and second half splits, then he showed a decent amount of improvement as the season wore on. In the first half (39 games) he hit just .195 with a .248 OBP and a 37 wRC+. In the second half, post adjustment, he batted .237 with a .272 OBP and a 66 wRC+.
August was by far Allen's best month. Not only did he hit .268 and have a .307 on-base, it was also the only month all season that he had a wRC+ above league average at 101. He provides solid defense, so if his bat can come around, then he'd be a nice piece of the A's lineup.
He's shown that he can make contact, which is great, but the contact he has made hasn't always been the best. His exit velocity last season was nearly four miles per hour less than league average. Among the players with at least 150 batted ball events last season, Allen's 84.8 exit velo ranked third-to-last and his barrels per plate appearance (0.9%) was fifth from the bottom.
Forst went on to talk about Hernaiz, who was acquired in the Cole Irvin trade last year. "That said, there's obviously a wealth of talent coming behind [Allen]. Darell Hernaiz is going to get every opportunity to play this spring. See at all three spots what he can do."
The three spots for Hernaiz are shortstop, third base and second base. Short has been the position he has manned most frequently in the minors by a large margin. With top draft picks Max Muncy and Jacob Wilson climbing their way to the big leagues, Hernaiz may have to move off of short eventually anyway.
Last year as a 21-year-old, Hernaiz raked in Double-A Midland, batting .338 with a .393 OBP and a 133 wRC+. He was promoted about halfway through the year to Triple-A Las Vegas and he wasn't quite collecting extra-base hits at the same rate as he had been, but he still hit .300 with a .376 on-base and a 97 wRC+. In 60 games he walked (24) nearly as much as he struck out (27).
With a solid camp, the case could be made that it's time to give Hernaiz a look at shortstop in order to put the best team possible on the field. Yet, from a roster construction standpoint, this is Allen's last season with a minor league option, which means it's a prove it year for the 25-year-old. If he can't make the case that he belongs this year, then he may have to try and earn playing time with another team. Hernaiz will get an opportunity to show what he can do this season, it just may not come at the beginning of the year.
Both players have the potential to be contributors in Oakland this season, and manager Mark Kotsay won't have an easy decision to make towards the end of March.
More must-reads: