New York Yankees Claim Former A's Infielder

The New York Yankees have added some infield depth, claiming CJ Alexander from the Athletics on Sunday, the A's announced. Alexander had been designated for assignment on June 5 after the club has optioned him to Triple-A Las Vegas the previous day to make room on the big-league roster for the return of Max Muncy.

Alexander was claimed by the A's from the Kansas City Royals last September, and had spent most of his time in the organization in Triple-A, but was called up by the Athletics on May 23. He made it into six games with the A's, going 3-for-17 (.176) with eight strikeouts.

In the minors, he made it into 42 games, hit .252 with a .348 OBP and ten home runs while spreading his time between first, third, left and right. He played the same mix of positions when he was up in West Sacramento with the club as well.

Athletics on SI spoke with Alexander earlier this week, and he mentioned that he's still trying to get the game to slow down a little more for him at the big-league level.

His calling card, outside of a solid glove at numerous positions, may be his bat speed. In his limited time with the A's, he finished with a bat speed of 74.9, which is top-25 in the big leagues and the same that Elly De La Cruz, Jake Burger, Corbin Carroll, and Byron Buxton have put up this season in larger sample sizes.

The big difference for each of those players and Alexander is they're making contact on the barrel of the bat, which the newest Yankee has yet to do in his brief stint in the Majors this season.

Still, it should provide a talent for the Yankees to work with, especially considering how much technology they bring to their player development over most clubs, but especially the Royals and A's. Perhaps they can help him unlock something to help bring him success in the big leagues, if he gets an opportunity.

Of course, he's also going to have to work on his pitch recognition, running a strikeout rate of 44% across his two brief stints in the bigs. While Alexander is a left-handed swinger, he does fit a similar profile to Pablo Reyes, a righty, who has struggled in pinstripes this season.