The Athletics and infielder Michael Stefanic have agreed to a minor league deal, according to Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. The deal comes with an invite to big league Spring Training for the upcoming season.
Stefanic, 30 in February, has made cameos at the big league level in each of the past four MLB seasons. Signed as an undrafted free agent by the Angels back in 2018, Stefanic played in the lower levels of the minors for a little over the year before the cancelled minor league season in 2020 wiped out a year of development. When he returned in 2021, he looked nothing short of excellent in the upper minors with a .336/.408/.493 slash line between the Double- and Triple-A levels. He struck out at just a 13.9% clip while walking 9.4% of the time. He hit for a bit of power in addition to that discipline, swatting 17 homers and 26 doubles in 125 games.
Stefanic’s minor league numbers have generally been more of the same; in five seasons at the Triple-A level, he’s a career .332/.427/.454 hitter. While he hasn’t come close to showing as much power as he did back in 2021, his contact and discipline has remained excellent for his level and allowed him to succeed with a contact-over-power profile while playing primarily second base but logging time all over the infield. Unfortunately for Stefanic, his game simply hasn’t translated at the big league level in the limited opportunities he’s received.
The 30-year-old is a career .227/.314/.267 hitter across 99 games and 289 plate appearances in the majors. His best stint at the big league level came with the Angels in 2023, when he slashed a solid .290/.380/.355 across 25 games. Those are excellent on-base numbers, but he was helped by a .333 BABIP he hasn’t been able to replicate since thanks to a paltry 22.2% Hard-Hit rate and a barrel rate of 0.0%. That complete lack of power is difficult to make work in the majors; Luis Arraez is virtually the only player in the modern game to find any sort of sustained success with that sort of approach, although others like Nick Madrigal have been able to hold their own in smaller samples.
The A’s will bring Stefanic in as some much-needed infield depth behind a group that is largely unproven outside of AL Rookie of the Year runner-up Jacob Wilson. Max Muncy was unable to make an impact in 63 games for the club this year, while Zack Gelof hasn’t impressed at the big league level since his debut 2023 season due to injuries and ineffectiveness. Players like Darell Hernaiz, Max Schuemann, and Brett Harris could provide depth behind that group, but adding another option like Stefanic makes some sense given a thin market for infield talent this winter and the Athletics’ typical lack of resources. If the A’s don’t manage to bring in another infield bat to their mix this winter, it wouldn’t be a shock to see Stefanic compete with someone like Schuemann for a bench job headed into camp this spring.
He can hit.
Not past AAA, though as an Angels fan I desperately want to see him catch and be great. Reminds me of an old timey baseball player.
Eric Sogard without the glasses but with a beard.
Tommy White and LDV will both be ready by summer. A’s IF depth is solid they’re just lacking in experience.
Doesn’t matter as they’ll all get traded in like 4-5 years
Gee never heard that one before! Good one!
If by solid you mean well below league average.
It is interesting that Stefanic, who has posted excellent numbers in AAA, will be playing games in a AAA ball park at the big league level. I like Stefanic more than Muncy and Gelof and think he can win a starting job out of spring training. A way under-the-radar sign for the A’s and it could be a good one.
It’s sad that the owner chooses to have them play at a AAA ballpark for the sole purpose of squeezing enough TV revenue from the SF Bay Area.
He’s kind of a poor man’s Jacob Wilson. Super high contact, low strikeouts, low power. Interesting seeing the A’s trying to pair these high contact guys with all their power hitters. Trying to create some balance. I think there’s a chance he makes the roster as a utility guy.
five seasons in AAA with a .330 BA and a .430 OBP — he is prolific AAAA — its possible the digs at Sutter Health click for him and in someway make him feel less pressure, could be a breakout season, only 30 yrs. old.