A's catchers competing for role

MESA, Arizona - Catchers have spent most of the first week of camp in their natural position: in the squat, catching some of baseball's nastiest pitches these A's pitchers have to offer. On Thursday, they flipped from pitch receiver to pitch victim.

“Bad draw for the catchers, who very rarely get to hit off live pitching and they get those guys,” manager Bob Melvin said. “That's the life of a catcher in spring training.”

The life of the catchers in A's camp this spring varies, too. Sean Murphy, the presumptive starting catcher, is getting reacquainted with the pitching staff he's already quite familiar with. Left-handed hitting Austin Allen, traded to Oakland in the winter, is trying to leverage his bits of big league experience in San Diego into a backup role.

Jonah Heim is the new kid in camp, fast-tracked suddenly, and is here to prove he might be able to crack the big leagues soon. The Baltimore Orioles drafted Heim in 2013, then traded him to the Tampa Bay Rays, who held him briefly before flipping him to the A's in 2017 for Joey Wendle (who's shined with the Rays). Heim is just 24 with a 6-foot-4 frame that creates a nice wall behind the dish. He thrived on the merit of his glove and, last year, just started clicking behind the plate.

After hitting .282 with the Midland RockHounds in 2019, Heim was pushed up to Las Vegas and thrived, batting .358 in 35 games. His plate discipline between the two teams, 45 strikeouts to 35 walks, is particularly noteworthy. The A's like a guy that can get on base.

Melvin has said that the backup catcher role is still up for grabs. Allen isn't a lock, even if it seems he has the edge. Heim is certainly in the mix, and part of the training is taking the spring to build a rapport with this staff.

“Biggest thing we can do in spring training is catch every guy, because next spring training they may come back with new stuff,” Heim said at his locker in Mesa.

He caught Frankie Montas' bullpen today, which was a trip.

“He got me a couple times, it was a little tough to see. Frankie has some electric stuff,” Heim said. “He threw me a slider that started in the tree, I didn't see it come back but it got on me quick.”

“Jesus (Luzardo) is always nasty, every single guy has a pitch were you aren't sure how they throw it. All of them together, when you have to mix all of them up and all for strikes, he just becomes nasty, and it's fun to catch. Not great if you're hitting.”

Davidson soaks in first camp

The Arizona sun hit a little different for Charlotte, North Carolina, native Logan Davidson.

“The weather here is much more friendly where it is where I'm from; the week before I got here it snowed where I'm from,” Davidson said.

Davidson may get to soak up that Mesa sun a whole lot more in the future. The A's see a lot of potential in the 22-year-old. He was a steal in last year's draft; the A's snatched the switch-hitting Clemson shortstop at 29th overall.

It's not too rare to have first-rounders get spring training invites in their first professional year, but Davidson is noticing the way it can streamline his growth in the minor leagues.

“The main difference is that the things we're learning are things that have been proven from players and guys that have been performing right now, not necessarily something that may work,” Davidson said. “I feel like in college a lot of things are bounced around until you find something, but there aren't always concrete reasons behind it.”

Davidson wants to work on consistency at the plate, like any young hitter might. But he's also picking fellow shortstop Marcus Semien's brain for as much advice and knowledge he can get. Plus, he's working with new assistant hitting coach Eric Martins, who was one of his coaches in the instructional league.

Situational hitting lesson

An unfamiliar drill took place hours before the A's took on the Tampa Bay Rays in the wild-card game last October.

The A's were practicing their bunting. Even amid the stress of postseason baseball, it drew some chuckles from manager Bob Melvin back then.

Despite the drill and the early deficit to the Rays in that wild-card game, the A's didn't flip into any situational hitting to chip away. It looks like that resistance might loosen this year. The team will run some situational hitting drills on Friday.

“I'm sure as I speak, and this is written a little later, my front office will, yeah,” Melvin joked. “But there's times in the season, especially with our pitching and defense, there are times where we can do that, get guys over, get them in. We'll be a better club for it.”

How do you practice something like situational hitting?

“It's an awareness right away, and that's what we're trying to do in this camp,” he said.

Situational hitting has gone by the wayside in this modern, all-out approach era. The American League's employment of the designated hitter removes lineup restrictions that might force some bottom of the lineup situational hitting. But with some speed in their lineup (Tony Kemp, Ramon Laureano) and some successful bunting in their past (Matt Olson beating the shift), there might be opportunity to flip the script and chip away despite the slew of sluggers up and down the order.

“It should be something guys are thinking about more than just one game, so we'll try to put a little bit more emphasis on it,” Melvin said.

Nick Allen's magical glove

Allen isn't a top prospect, yet. But the short-statured shortstop has wowed with his glove since Day 1. Melvin raved about him Thursday.

“When you see him in plain clothes you're not 100% sure he's a baseball player, but he is a baseball player,” Melvin said.

He wanted to get Allen, drafted by the team in 2017, into games this spring - but a troublesome shoulder could delay that. A's fans should be eager to see him navigate that stretch.

“He's one of our better prospects and I don't know that we have a better defender in development,” Melvin said. “You watch him take ground balls, and whatever hop he gets - veteran guys try to get the big hop - but there isn't a hop he's afraid of, he has clean hands, soft hands, one of those guys that doesn't come around too often as far as he looks defensively. It's not just routine stuff, he makes the great plays and he's fun to watch. He's unique.”