The Athletics have acquired Colorado outfielder, Kent Matthes, off waivers from the Rockies and have sent Jarrod Parker to the 60 day disabled list in correspondence to his impending Tommy John surgery. Matthes' acquisition signifies that Michael Taylor's days as an Athletic are closing, as he has since been optioned to Sacramento and shall occupy a roster position alongside Shane Peterson, Jake Goebbert, and one of Billy Burns, D'Arby Myers and Conner Crumbliss while Sam Fuld is presumed to momentarily usurp Craig Gentry's opening day post; Michael Taylor unfortunately has no roster spot at the moment thanks to this, and thus seems to indicate Oakland shall experiment with swapping the Stanford alumni or seem relatively confident some organization shall opt to claim him off waivers due to his sensationally productive spring. Kent Matthes, a 27 year old Alabama draftee within the 2009 4th round, has continuously been hailed as one of Colorado's most exquisite power producers within their system en route to being considered a top 10 organizational prospect following his California League trek through the 2011 campaign after hitting 39 doubles and 23 dingers in 400 plate appearances for Modesto to finish with a .334/.378/.672 slash and a league leading .307 ISO. He would witness his output predictably diminish within the Texas League, as his BABIP significantly dwindled after the swing first and discipline deficient Matthes struggled to acclimate to AA arsenals even more so, yet still manned a solid AZFL attempt representing Colorado in October in the offseason. Finally, during this previous campaign, Matthes broke through to AAA following a successful Tulsa crusade and concluded with a .281/.334/.503 slash between 470 PAs with a mediocre 6.3% BB% and a corresponding 22.5% K% while launching an eyepopping 20 dingers. Now stationed in Sacramento and having been adopted onto another organization's 40 man roster, Matthes and his platoon split against lefties of .350/.417/.650 slash ought to propel him into the conversation for opportunities to gain entry onto the major league ballclub throughout the campaign as one of the most imposing bats within the Oakland system.
Additionally, Brett Hunter has been released from the organization and Derek DeYoung shall undergo TJS and thus be absent througout the 2014 season. Hunter, a 7th rounder during the 2008 Draft proceedings from Pepperdine, flashed dominance during the previous stint after multiple campaigns floundering through the affiliated organizational ladder with blatant inconsistency through his climb, after constructing a 32.1% K% prior to his final attempt before MiLB free agency. However, for the potential heavy specialist, he is sacrificed prematurely to elevate Midland's bullpen conundrum as he now seeks out another squad to preform on. DeYoung, a 2012 18th rounder from the Junior Collegiate powerhouse of Oakley, utilized his 93-95 MPH fastball and plus curveball for a consistent trek through Beloit with an admirable groundball percentage to place himself in preliminary conversation for Stockton's 2014 rotation. Unfortunately, DeYoung now shall recuperate alongside Jarrod after he was poised to star as one of the Athletics most underrated arms as this 2014 approached.
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