After Mark Ellis injured his hamstring in Monday night’s loss to the Baltimore Orioles, the Oakland Athletics called up hot prospect Jemile Weeks from Sacramento. I was a bit concerned he would find himself sitting on the bench for much of this initial big league stint, but the A’s seem set to give him some playing time.
The A’s released their lineup for Tuesday’s game and they have slotted Jemile Weeks into the leadoff spot. It’s my understanding the team basically doesn’t want Adam Rosales playing back to back games quite yet, so getting Weeks in with Sizemore makes sense.
Over the last season and a half, Weeks has shown an increase in steals and will hopefully work as a leadoff hitter when Coco Crisp is sitting. If Weeks can develop into a solid bat for the A’s, I could see him settling in at the number two spot where the team has tried to insert Mark Ellis and Daric Barton at different times. Given Barton’s recent small measure of success in the six spot, maybe a strong Weeks performance in the next couple weeks can force the issue.
Oakland Athletics
1. Jemile Weeks 2B
2. Daric Barton 1B
3. David DeJesus RF
4. Josh Willingham LF
5. Ryan Sweeney CF
6. Kurt Suzuki C
7. Hideki Matsui DH
8. Scott Sizemore 3B
9. Cliff Pennington SS
Baltimore Orioles
1. J.J. Hardy SS
2. Nick Markakis RF
3. Adam Jones CF
4. Vladimir Guerrero DH
5. Derrek Lee 1B
6. Matt Wieters C
7. Luke Scott LF
8. Mark Reynolds 3B
9. Ryan Adams 2B