Athletics to promote former first-round pick amid losing streak

The Athletics are promoting infielder/outfielder Logan Davidson to the majors, reports Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. He’s not yet on the 40-man roster, so the club will need to open a spot for him. Moving Zack Gelof to the 60-day injured list would be one one way of doing that but it also seems like the A’s are planning to make a series of moves today.

Last night, Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that the A’s would be shaking up their roster on the heels of a nine-game losing streak, with outfielder Denzel Clarke to be promoted. Manager Mark Kotsay also relayed that infielder Gio Urshela would be heading to the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain. The full slate of moves hasn’t yet been announced but it seems that Davidson will also be a part of them.

Now 27, Davidson was the Athletics’ first-round pick back in 2019. The A’s grabbed him 29th overall and signed him to a slot-value bonus of more than $2.4MM. He quickly became one of the club’s top prospects but his stock then faded.

Even as a college player, his obvious power came with concerns about the swing-and-miss in his game. Those fears have been borne out in his time as a minor leaguer. After the minor leagues were canceled in 2020, Davidson took 1,437 plate appearances in the minors across the 2021 to 2023 seasons with a 27.6% strikeout rate. His 11% walk rate was good but he had a fairly modest tally of 31 home runs. The result was a combined line of .246/.332/.379 and an 85 wRC+ over those three campaigns. He largely fell off lists of the top prospects in the system in that time.

Since then, he has regained some promise, to a degree. He overcame some hip injuries that were plaguing him and was healthy enough to get into 87 Triple-A games last year, plus 41 more this year. The strikeouts are still a big flag but there have been some positives as well. In 347 plate appearances last year, he struck out at a 31.1% clip but launched 14 homers. So far this year, in 186 Triple-A plate appearances, he has just two homers and a 31.2% strikeout rate. However, his 20.4% walk rate is a massive spike from last year’s 7.8% clip at Triple-A.

Dating back to the start of 2024, he has 543 plate appearances, mostly at the Triple-A level but with a handful in the Complex League as well. In that span, he has a 30.8% strikeout rate, 12.5% walk rate, 17 home runs, .303/.400/.506 line and 120 wRC+.

Being a productive hitter while striking out that often will be hard to maintain in the majors, but Davidson can at least be useful in other ways. He stole seven bags last year and has added seven more swipes already this year. Defensively, he has been bouncing all around the diamond, having played every position except the battery.

At the time they selected Davidson with a first-round pick, the A’s were probably hoping to get more than a utility guy. But considering where his stock was a couple of years ago, that might not be a terrible outcome. Time will tell how the A’s plan to deploy him. As mentioned, Urshela is going to the IL. He had been in a bench role, with Miguel Andujar taking over at third and Luis Urías at second lately. Perhaps Davidson will therefore slot into a multi-positional bench role, with his switch-hitting ability enhancing his versatility.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images