Seth Brown

Outfielder Seth Brown has become a free agent after being waived by the A’s. The MLB.com transaction log indicates that he was released. MLBTR has learned that Brown, who recently crossed the five-year service threshold, elected free agency after going unclaimed on waivers. It’s an immaterial distinction, as he’ll hit the market while retaining the remainder of this season’s $2.7MM salary in either case. The A’s had not previously designated Brown for assignment, so this drops their 40-man roster count to 39.

It does not impact their active roster. Brown has been on the injured list since June 13 with a minor left elbow injury. Once he reached the five-year service mark, Brown earned the right to refuse an optional assignment back to Triple-A. That meant the A’s would have needed to keep him in the majors once he was ready to return from the injured list. They instead opted to place him on waivers and allow him to move on entirely.

The lefty-hitting Brown has struggled at the major league level this year. He’s hitting .185/.303/.262 with one homer and 23 strikeouts over 76 plate appearances. He spent a couple weeks in Triple-A after being outrighted off the 40-man roster in late May. Brown obliterated minor league pitching, collecting 21 hits and seven home runs in nine games to quickly get selected back onto the MLB roster. He unfortunately was limited to five games before going on the injured list. The A’s welcomed Gio Urshela back from the IL at the same time and have decided to stick with Max Schuemann and JJ Bleday for the final two bench spots.

Brown reached 20+ home runs in consecutive seasons in 2021-22. His numbers have dropped since then, though he hit .263/.304/.413 in the second half last year to persuade the A’s to tender him an arbitration contract. They’ll remain on the hook for the rest of that money aside from the prorated portion of the $760K league minimum for whatever time he spends on another club’s MLB roster. Whichever team signs Brown would only pay the league minimum this year and could control him via arbitration for another season. That’d require a salary in a similar or higher level as this year’s $2.7MM mark, though, so he’d be a non-tender candidate in the offseason even if he finds an immediate MLB opportunity as a free agent.

The Athletics are going to call infielder/outfielder Seth Brown back up the majors, reports Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. He was outrighted to Triple-A Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago and will need to be re-selected to the 40-man roster. The A’s will therefore have to make a corresponding move or moves to open room for him there and on the active roster.

Brown’s return to the majors seems to have been caused by him turning on the Game Genie when he got sent down. In nine games for the Aviators, he hit seven home runs, helping him produce a ridiculous .500/.512/1.071 line and 282 wRC+ over 43 plate appearances.

That’s a small sample of work but Brown has been good in the majors before, though obviously not that good. Over 2021 and 2022, he slashed .224/.294/.457 for a wRC+ of 111. Unfortunately, that dropped down in 2023, with a .222/.286/.405 line and 91 wRC+. His struggles continued in 2024 but he finished strong, with a .263/.304/.413 line and 107 wRC+ in the second half.

That prompted the A’s to tender him an arbitration contract for 2025, with the two sides avoiding arb and agreeing to a $2.7MM salary for this year. Through 61 plate appearances, he hit .212/.328/.308 for an 89 wRC+ and got sent down. Players with at least three but less than five years of service time can reject outright assignments but must forfeit their remaining salary to do so. Brown accepted his assignment, hit the crap out of the ball for a while and is now coming back.

Time will tell how the A’s plan to use Brown but it’s possibly related to the Shea Langeliers injury. The catcher left yesterday’s game with a “left flank injury” and was sent for an MRI. It’s possible that he will be placed on the injured list with some kind of oblique injury. If Tyler Soderstrom moves in from first base to take up catching duties again, Brown could factor into the first base/left field/designated hitter mix alongside Brent Rooker, JJ Bleday and Drew Avans.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin, Oncea-Imagn Images

First baseman/outfielder Seth Brown has been sent outright to Triple-A Las Vegas, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.

Brown has the right to elect free agency but is unlikely to do so. Players with at least three years of service time have the right to reject outright assignments and head to the open market. However, a player with less than five years of service would have to forfeit his remaining salary in order to exercise that right. Brown is in between those two markers. He and the A’s avoided arbitration in the offseason by agreeing to a $2.7MM salary. He presumably wants to keep that money flowing and will therefore report to Vegas.

For the A’s, they will hold onto Brown as a relatively expensive non-roster depth piece, though one with some major league success under his belt. He hit .224/.294/.457 for a 111 wRC+ during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. He dipped in 2023, producing a .222/.286/.405 line and 91 wRC+.

His 2024 was fairly similar to his 2023 but with a strong finish. He hit .202/.263/.347 for a 77 wRC+ in the first half but then had a .263/.304/.413 line and 107 wRC+ in the second half. That gave the A’s enough confidence to tender him a contract going into 2025, but that bet hasn’t paid off thus far. He hit .212/.328/.308 for an 89 wRC+ before getting designated for assignment last week.

Due to that performance and his salary, no club was willing to take him on. He’ll now look to get back in a groove and work his way back to the majors, as he did in 2024. The A’s are giving some playing time to fairly inexperienced players like Denzel Clarke and Logan Davidson, so it’s entirely possible that they decide to send those guys back to the minors at some point. And as always, an injury could arise at any time, which could lead to Brown getting called back up.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

The Athletics and first baseman/outfielder Seth Brown have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year contract for the 2025 season, per a club announcement. While the team didn’t announce financial components of the deal, The Associated Press reports that Brown will make a $2.7MM salary.

Brown, 32, looked as though he was no longer in the A’s plans midseason when he was passed through waivers unclaimed. He accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A, so as not to forfeit the remainder of last year’s $2.6MM salary, but Brown caught fire in the minors and hit his way back up to the big leagues in short order.

At the time of his removal from the 40-man roster, Brown was hitting just .189/.251/.306 through 195 plate appearances. He erupted with a .403/.416/.736 slash and seven homers in 77 Triple-A plate appearances, however, and found himself back on the big league roster less than a month later. From the time he returned to the majors through season’s end, Brown hit .271/.312/.448 in a sample of 205 plate appearances that was nearly identical to his early-season struggles.

That proved enough to keep Brown in the team’s plans for at least another year, it seems. The lefty-swinging slugger figures to again split his time between first base and the outfield corners, while Brent Rooker takes the majority of plate appearances at designated hitter. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $3.8MM salary for Brown in free agency, though deals hammered out prior to the non-tender deadline (known as “pre-tender” deals) often come with salaries south of projections. Teams have more leverage prior to the non-tender deadline and thus will frequently present offers in what’s effectively “take it or leave it” fashion, with the “leave it” option representing a non-tender.

Brown has now had consecutive disappointing seasons at the plate, but he popped 45 homers in 261 games with the A’s from 2021-22. He’s a .225/.289/.426 hitter (102 wRC+) in 1640 plate appearances dating back to the 2021 season.