Spring Notes: Straight A’s For Milone

Spring training is in full-swing and fans couldn’t be happier. The spring brings back baseball and with baseball comes tough competition among players vying for a spot on the Opening Day roster. For a young team like the Athletics, there figures to be a ton of fierce, but friendly competition taking place on the diamond.

Oakland’s Trevor Cahill and Gio Gonzalez-less starting rotation has a few holes in it, which opens the door for some of the younger guys on the team. On of the players making a strong case early on for a starting spot in the rotation is new addition, Tom Milone. Milone, 25, was acquired in the trade that sent Gonzalez to the Washington Nationals this winter.

The A’s currently have their No.1 and No.2 spots figured out, but the rest of the rotation is in a state of uncertainty. Milone, though, figures to be in the running for one of those vacant spots int he rotation. If Tuesday’s performance against the Brewers is any indication of Milone’s abilities, the young right-hander may find it relatively easy to win a job with the Athletics this spring.

Milone threw three scoreless innings against the Brewers on Tuesday, limiting the team to just one hit during his outing. He also struck out three while walking one. His command has always been sharp and the Athletics are hoping that guys like Milone, Jarrod Parker, and Brad Peacock show the team something in this rebuilding year of 2012.

Here’s a couple more notes from Tuesday’s game as well as some Spring Training thoughts/notes in general:

• Ryan Cook, who was acquired in the Trevor Cahill deal, threw two scoreless innings on Tuesday. He recorded two strike outs, too. He could end up with the big league team as a reliever this year.
• Graham Godfrey, another pitcher in the running for a vacant spot in Oakland’s rotation, had two solid innings of work on Tuesday as well.
• Jemile Weeks went 2-for-4 on Tuesday, boosting his average to .417 so far this spring. He also recorded an RBI on Tuesday, pushing his spring total to 5.
• In 8 spring at-bats, OF Josh Reddick has hit .625/.625/.875 with two RBIs and a triple. Small sample size, but he’s shown a good bat so far.
• In 8 spring at-bats, 1B Brandon Allen has hit .500/.500/1.125 with a home run and 8 RBIs. So far, so good for Allen, who is currently fighting for the first base position on Oakland’s roster.
• Manny Ramirez is still searching for his first hit this spring. He’s appeared in two games so far for the Athletics.
• Rollie Fingers was at the A’s-Angels spring training game!

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