The A’s announced they’ve selected outfielder Luis Barrera onto the MLB roster. In a corresponding move, corner outfielder Billy McKinney has been designated for assignment.
Barrera was DFA himself during the season’s first week. He passed through outright waivers unclaimed and remained in the organization; a month later, he makes his return to the majors after getting off to a nice start with Triple-A Las Vegas. Over 101 plate appearances, the left-handed hitter owns a .286/.347/.473 line with three homers and a couple stolen bases. That’s a better showing — at least from a power perspective — than Barrera had with the Aviators last season, when he hit .276/.348/.393 with four homers in 96 games.
The 26-year-old Barrera has only six big league games under his belt, all of them coming last season. He’s an excellent runner with ample experience at all three outfield spots in the minor leagues. Bringing him back to the majors in place of McKinney affords manager Mark Kotsay a bit more defensive flexibility, although Oakland already has a pair of strong center fielders in Ramón Laureano and Cristian Pache.
Barrera also has a minor league option year remaining, meaning the A’s can bounce him between Oakland and Vegas for the rest of the season now that he’s back on the 40-man. That wasn’t the case for McKinney, who is out of options. That lack of roster flexibility has played a part in the 27-year-old bouncing throughout the league over the past year-plus.
A former Oakland first-rounder, McKinney also played in the Cubs’ system before breaking into the big leagues with the Yankees in 2018. Traded to the Blue Jays at that summer’s deadline, he spent a couple years with Toronto before changing hands frequently via waivers. McKinney suited up with each of the Brewers, Mets and Dodgers in 2021. He tallied a personal-high 300 plate appearances between the three clubs but hit just .192/.280/.358.
After the season, Los Angeles traded McKinney to the Rangers. Texas non-tendered him a week later, and he caught on with his original organization via minor league deal in Spring Training. McKinney broke camp but got off to a brutal .096/.158/.173 start over 57 plate appearances before the A’s decided to move on.
Oakland will have a week to trade McKinney or expose him to waivers. He has never passed through the waiver wire unclaimed in his career, but the extent of this year’s struggles could deter other clubs from taking a shot. Any team that acquired him would have to keep him on their active roster or designate him for assignment themselves. If McKinney were to clear waivers, he doesn’t have the requisite service time to refuse an outright assignment.
Billy just didn’t hit while with this A’s this time around. Maybe if he stays with the Oakland organization he can find his groove back again and return to the bigs. In the meantime, it is Barrera’s turn now. Good luck both!
Billy has never hit…anywhere.
Gotta give the guy credit to the potential he had 2018-19
Wouldn’t mind at all if the Mets brought McKinney back as OF depth.
Not gonna happen!
Maybe to SYR…but Jankowski is doing a great job, plus Dom & McNeil need OF time for ABs…
And who do you get rid of?
I think Billy fits best as a 5th OF on a good team so Mets def fit the claim (tho Jano has been great)
Did a great service for LAD last year over their rook OF’s who were overmatched –
The A’s never made much since as he clearly has a {low} ceiling and A’s should be using their pt/abs on higher upside/variance players right now
And Barrera will likely star and hit 4 HRs vs the Tigers this week leading the A’s in a sweep of my woeful team. Amazing and sad how the Tigers season is already over within these first 30 games of the season
Its too early to say its over, but they aren’t making it easy for themselves.
You can stick in a fork in the tigers because they’re done.
Another Padres acquisition?
No, he’ll just go to a team that plays the Padres and he’ll go 10 for 12
Padres, 19-10, without El Niño?!?! Nice try, troll!
They are doing it with a below average lineup too so if they had any type of offense, they would be much better than 19-10.
That’s the BoMel effect! Really want to see what Melvin can do with more of a budget.
With the most cupcake schedule I’ve ever seen a team have early. They will cement themselves in 3rd place when they face enough major league teams
I have no doubt that Billy McKinney will have a very long and illustrious career as a first base coach. Hang them up, Billy, your destiny is calling.
The guy who everyone wants, but not for long.
Someone will grab him and then he’ll go 10 for 12 in a series against the Padres
Can the Padres finally pick him up,please! He destroys Petco.
Problem is, he destroys Petco–against Padres pitching
This is like a Grateful Dead tour
Thank you. Watch him go hit .400 for Melvin in SD
I’ll admit that I guess I was wrong about Billy McKinney. I thought with consistent playing time that he could show to be an average mlb hitter. I thought the same about Sheldon Nuese so I guess I’m 1/2
I remember certain Met fans around here claiming that McKinney should replace Nimmo permanently after he got slightly hot for like two weeks. (He still wasn’t as good as Nimmo, even for those two weeks; the irrational hatred some fans have for Nimmo is crazy.)
Great. Now do Elvis Andrus
He’ll be perfect pickup for the Reds via dumpster diving.
This is shocking! He did everything they asked him to do! Release Sheldon Nuese! He’s the one not following directions!
Also love that the A’s were wrong twice on him.
Drafted him in the 1st round AND signed him as a FA to be a starter.
Gave him the ML minimum on that brutal rebuilding roster?
Idk how wrong you can be with that. It was a shot in the dark.
Didn’t sign him to be a starter
Gotta be an upgrade over Bradley Zippo for the Jays
Something about McKinney as a player reminds me of Beane’s flameout.
So perhaps he would do better as a GM?
ITS ABOUT TIME