A plague of injuries has hit the three Jewish players on the Oakland A’s this spring, not a good development with the start of the season just around the corner.
Sam Fuld, penciled in as the team’s starting center fielder against right-handed pitchers, was hit in the jaw by a thrown ball while running the bases in a spring training game on March 20.
First baseman Ike Davis, acquired by the A’s in November in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates, is nursing a bad back.
Nate Freiman, Oakland’s other Jewish first baseman has a bad back, as well.
With three Jewish players, the A’s conceivably could be hosting a monumental Jewish Heritage Night game against the Baltimore Orioles on Aug. 4.
Then again, injuries and a lack of roster spots could dampen the festivities. Freiman, in his third season with the team, will be starting the season at extended spring training in Arizona, according to the San Francisco Chronicle on March 28.
Though Fuld has swelling on the left side of his face and may have to wear a protective shield for a few weeks, he appears ready for opening night against the Texas Rangers at home on April 6, the fourth night of Passover.
“I can talk pretty normally. I can eat just fine,” Fuld told the San Francisco Chronicle on March 21. Running to first base, he was hit by a throw from an infielder. “It could be worse,” he added.
Happy to report he had all his teeth and no broken jaw, Fuld, 33, returned to the lineup on March 24. Though he hit only .209 in two stints with the A’s last year, he is a fan favorite for his defense, speed, hustle and derring-do.
Davis, 28, is a five-year veteran who was traded by the New York Mets to the Pirates last year, and then to the A’s over the winter. A .240 career hitter with 78 home runs — 32 of them during the 2012 season with the Mets — he was sidelined for about a week with lower back spasms but has been playing recently.
“The last two years haven’t been great,” Davis told the New York Post, believing the A’s will give him an honest chance at starting every game. “I’m sure they want me to reprise and hit 32 homers again. That’s not easy to do when you are getting 300 at bats. I know I’ll hit my homers, but if I could get 500, 600 at-bats, that would be easier.”
Freiman, 28, a 6-foot-8 right-handed batter, hit .218 with five homers in only 36 games with Oakland last year, after playing in 80 games for the A’s as a rookie in 2013. He spent most of last year with Triple-A Sacramento. A’s manager Bob Melvin indicated before spring training that newly acquired Mark Canha was ahead of Freiman for the backup first baseman job, and Freiman didn’t help his cause by straining his lower back while lifting weights in the offseason. He has played in only one Cactus League game and, according to the Chronicle report of March 28, he has yet to be cleared for baseball activities. But he did tell reporters his back is feeling better lately after some aggressive treatment.
But even though Freiman won’t begin the season in Oakland, the A’s still will be tied with the Toronto Blue Jays for the most Jewish players on a major league roster: two.