Braves fans anxiously waited to see catcher Shea Langeliers make his major-league debut.
It happened Tuesday night, but he was wearing an A’s uniform.
Langeliers, who was one of the prospects the Braves traded to acquire first baseman Matt Olson, was called up by Oakland and made his major-league debut.
Langeliers doubled on the first pitch he saw in the big leagues in a 5-1 win over the Rangers in Arlington, Texas. Leading off the second inning to cheers from family and friends in the sparse crowd of 15,260, the 24-year-old lined Kohei Arihara’s pitch down the left-field line.
“First at-bat, you’ve got the jitters, you’re excited, nervous, all that stuff,” Langeliers said. “I felt like the only way to get past that was, if he gave me a good first pitch to hit, I was swinging at it.”
Langeliers struck out his last three times up.
That first pitch mattered more, though.
“I think it’s great,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “I think anybody that gets to the big leagues and they see one pitch, they should be swinging, in my opinion. I thought it was great. I loved the aggressiveness.”
The Braves traded Langeliers, outfielder Cristian Pache, and righties Ryan Cusick and Joey Estes to Oakland for Olson. Langeliers was selected ninth overall by the Braves in the 2019 draft out of Baylor. He hit .283 with 19 homers and 56 RBIs in 92 games at Triple-A Las Vegas after the March trade.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Oakland called up the 24-year-old catcher/designated hitter/left fielder to give him experience down the stretch for the last-place team in the American League West. The A’s said Sean Murphy will remain their starting catcher, however.
Another former Braves prospect, infielder Elvis Andrus, now in his 14th season in the majors, also homered for Oakland, but he was released Wednesday after he complained about not being an everyday player.
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