The Marlins announced the acquisition of infielder Jonah Bride from the A’s in exchange for cash. Miami designated fellow infielder Jordan Groshans for assignment to create a 40-man roster spot. Oakland had DFA Bride when they traded for Ross Stripling last week.
Bride, 28, has been with the A’s since they selected him in the 23rd round of the 2018 draft. The right-handed hitter has never been a highly-regarded prospect but has generally hit well in the minors. He owns a .288/.400/.459 line over the course of his minor league career. That includes a .322/.450/.553 slash over 401 plate appearances at the Triple-A level.
While Oakland’s affiliate plays in one of the sport’s most hitter-friendly settings in Las Vegas, Bride’s production has been built around his strong strike zone awareness. He has walked in 17.2% of his Triple-A plate appearances while striking out at a modest 15.2% clip. That earned him looks at the major league level in each of the last two seasons, where he hasn’t found anywhere near the same level of success.
Bride is a .192/.296/.232 hitter over 98 MLB contests. He has walked at a strong 10.2% rate against a lower than average 18.2% strikeout percentage. He hasn’t done any kind of damage on contact, however. Bride has one homer and seven doubles in 293 plate appearances.
Primarily a third baseman, Bride also has experience at first and second base. He briefly dabbled with catching in the minors in 2022 but played exclusively on the infield last year. Bride has never played shortstop, so he won’t offer any cover at that position of need for Miami. He offers depth at any of the other infield spots and still has a minor league option remaining, so the Fish can send him to Triple-A Jacksonville next season without placing him on waivers.
The acquisition bumps Groshans off the roster, a disappointing development for the former first-round draftee. Selected by the Blue Jays, he was dealt to Miami at the 2022 deadline for relievers Anthony Bass and Zach Pop. Groshans made a brief MLB debut later that season, appearing in 17 games. He hit .262/.308/.311 in 65 trips to the plate.
Miami kept Groshans in Triple-A on optional assignment for all of last season. He had a lackluster .243/.339/.330 slash with six homers in 528 plate appearances. As with Bride, Groshans posted solid walk (12.5%) and strikeout (17.4%) numbers but made minimal power impact. First-year president of baseball operations Peter Bendix evidently feels Bride has a better chance of translating that approach into some amount of big league success. The Marlins have a week to trade the 24-year-old Groshans or try to run him through waivers.
Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase first reported the Marlins were acquiring Bride. Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
I liked Jonah while with the A’s. It’s just didn’t happen. Hopefully, the Marlins will give Bride the chance…
*insert sarcastic playoff comment here
Seriously though, minor league depth and can play multiple positions. I remember watching him get his first big league hit against the Sox
Thought it was Jonah heeeeem
League-shattering news. I’ll be expecting a championship parade along Biscayne Boulevard by the end of October
“More to come.”
I can’t wait to hear the saucy details!
Was hoping the Padres would get him to pair with Groome.
Dangit!
Man, atkins draft history is absolutely pathetic
Groshans has really fallen from grace. He was a former 12th overall pick and top prospect for the Blue Jays, who I thought was going to end up being a pretty good player. He was excellent in 2019 but has steadily declined ever since, to the point where he may not even cut it as a utility player in the majors now. He’s still only 24 though, so hopefully a change of scenery will help him to figure things out.
I’m still waiting for Miami to trade a starter for Torres
Didn’t they almost trade Torres and Oswald Peraza for Pablo Lopez at the 2022 deadline, but backed out? In retrospect, that’s a trade they probably should have made. Cashman did not have a very good 2022 trade deadline in general. Dealing Montgomery for Bader, missing out on Lopez and Luis Castillo, dealing for Montas… rough.
Groshans has to develop lift in his swing or he’s finished. With an already poor batting average and a lack of speed —-it’s not a good looking profile.
This is quite funny!! I watched this kid Groshans hit at the Marucci lab twice this offseason. His advanced metrics were actually above the MLB avg in everything. All the gurus at marucci were gushing over his swing!! I’m sure he will find work. Let’s be honest Miami is a joke everything about their baseball operations and player development is absolutely garbage. Their evaluation of talent is atrocious. They signed segura for 8.5mil per yr. Traded him and he was immediately cut.
@Aaron33
Your comment neglected to mention the success Miami has had with pitching going back to Jose Fernandez, and then there were some nobodies like Mike Stanton, Marcella Ozuna, Christian Yelich… But it’s trendy to hate on the Marlins and Rays for whatever reason, isn’t it?
Stanton, Ozuna, Yelich were quite some time ago now. The Marlins haven’t been the gold or let’s say bronze standard for developing position players.
Torres is a free agent after this season, would be far too expensive to re-sign and plays awful at SS. What exactly are the Marlins gaining from this?
Injuries really zapped him good. The foot injury in ‘19 really set him back after he started out hot in A ball, then of course lost the COVID year. You kinda knew when Miami said they were trying him at 1B he was about out of time.
He was funny in Superbad
Wow McBride rakes in AAA
Watch the As claim Groshans.
They gonna trade for Jay Groome too?
Seems like he is getting a bit unlucky.
MLB BB% is 10.2% 54 and K% is 18.4%.
AAA slash line: 0.322 / 0.450 / 0.553
xMLB slash line (18% decline in production from AAA to MLB): 0.264 / 0.369 / 0.453
Actual MLB Slash Line: 0.192 / 0.296 / 0.232
And if I take away 10% for playing in an offensive environment like Las Vegas, the slash line should be 0.240 / 0.335 / 0.412
Best of luck to him in finding his swing in Miami.
Buddy?
Jay
The bluejays have made horrendous 1st round draft picks sense atkins took over
yeah because AA made such good ones. Deck McGuire, Mitch Nay, Matt Smoral, Kevin Comer, Tyler Gonzalez, Phil Bickford, Max Pentecost, John Harris… the list goes on. Not defending Atkins because he stinks but AA was no better.
He’ll get claimed if they try to run him through waivers. Good walk rate, low strikeout rate will appeal to GMs and lots of question marks at 3b across the league. Greenberg/Harris in Detroit target those types of players as an example and 3rd base there is iffy. Not that I think Groshans would be an upgrade, but who knows.
Throw away one lottery ticket, buy another.
Keeps someone busy who hasn’t been able to trade for or sign anyone worth having
Decent pickup for the Marlins, got to see a fair amount of Jonah Bride play against my team in the AL west. He passes the eye test for bat to ball skills and defense. In my mind, if you’re on the A’s and have a shred of talent, you might as well prepare yourself to be traded or sold in this case. Gelof looks very interesting too.
Could be a good get. No risk signing. Bendix knows what he’s doing.