The Oakland Athletics entered Saturday's action with a 32-42 mark and in dead last in the American League West. Needless to say, the team's front office has decided to go with a youthful rebuild mid-stream.
It started with the call-up of Matt Olson in early June. After that, Oakland also purchased the contract of Jaycob Brugman on June 9th. Then, came the decision to bring top prospect Franklin Barreto to the Majors on Saturday.
All three were in the lineup against Chicago White Sox starter James Shields. All three homered for the first time in their careers, marking the first time in over 100 years that three players on the same team hit their first MLB homers in the same game. It's the first time this has happened against one specific pitcher.
For his part, Olson also added a second homer in the A's 10-2 win over Chicago.
This is now the storyline in Oakland as the remainder of the season plays out. How will these talented youngsters perform on the best stage baseball has to offer?
Barreto entered the season as Oakland's top prospect. He responded by hitting .281 with eight homers, 32 RBI and 37 runs scored in 68 games at Triple-A Nashville. Barreto figures to be the A's every-day second baseman from here on out.
As it relates to Olson, he was the A's 15th-best prospect heading into the season. Prior to Saturday's action, the former first-round pick was hitting just .118 in eight games with the Athletics. That came after the slugger hit .271 with 17 homers and 43 RBI in Triple-A.
Though, the most intriguing of these three prospects has to be Brugman. The outfielder was an unheralded 17th-round pick out of BYU back in 2013. All he's done since is absolutely rake. The outfielder finished last season with a .285 average, 12 homers and 87 RBI in between two minor league stops.
Along with third baseman Matt Chapman and fellow infielder Ryon Healy, these are the players we should watch from a fantasy perspective in Oakland for the remainder of the season.