The Oakland Athletics appear to be willing to go with a youthful rebuild this season. The team called up top prospect Matt Chapman from Triple-A on Thursday and designated veteran Trevor Plouffe for assignment.
First things first. Moving on from Plouffe is interesting in that he signed a one-year, $5.2 million deal during the winter.
This is a clear indication that Oakland plans on using Chapman as the team's everyday third baseman from here on out.
Chapman, a first-round pick out of Cal State Fullerton back in 2014, entered the season as Oakland's fourth-best prospect. He's hitting .259 with 16 homers and 30 RBI in Triple-A this season.
The slugger projects to be a 25-plus homer guy at the MLB level. He's definitely someone worth keepin an eye on as he makes his debut this week.