Urias Picks Oakland! A’s Win Free Agency Sweepstakes, Add Star Power to Roster
Free agent infielder Luis Urias has a locker set up in the Athletics’ clubhouse, reports Martin Gallegos of MLB.com. It’s not clear what kind of deal the Wasserman client has agreed to, but it seems he’ll be signing on with the A’s organization for the upcoming season.
Urias, 27, drew some interest from the Twins within the past couple weeks as well, but they opted to instead add Ty France to their infield mix, ostensibly filling the last spot on their expected roster. He’ll instead give the A’s some cover at multiple positions, providing needed insurance given an infield full of question marks.
The A’s are hoping for rebound efforts from both second baseman Zack Gelof and third base frontrunner Gio Urshela, who inked a big league deal earlier this winter. They’re also relying on young Jacob Wilson at shortstop, and while he’s a former top-10 pick and regarded as one of MLB’s top 50 or so prospects, he still has only 103 big league plate appearances to his credit.
Urias spent the 2024 season with the Mariners but fared poorly in a platoon setup with Josh Rojas. In just 109 big league plate appearances, the former Padres top prospect hit .191/.303/.394. That was the second straight season with a sub-.200 average for Urias. He was an above-average producer in a near full-time role with the Brewers from 2021-22, hitting .244/.340/.426 with 39 homers in 1042 plate appearances, but Urias has seen his strikeout, ground-ball and pop-up rates spike in the two years since that solid run.
Defensively, Urias has more than 1000 innings of big league experience at each of second base, shortstop and third base. Metrics like Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average cast him as a substantially below-average defender at short, however, and the Brewers clearly agreed, moving him off the position permanently back in 2022. He’s been average at second per both DRS and OAA, while the former metric pegs him as plus at third base to the latter’s slightly negative review.
That versatility could also line Urias up to fill a traditional utility role. The A’s currently have light-hitting Max Schuemann and prospect Darell Hernaiz as options for that role on the 40-man roster. Neither has hit in the majors, however, and both have just a year of big league time under their belts (slightly less for Hernaiz, actually) — despite the fact that Schuemann is only eight days younger than Urias.
The A’s already have a full 40-man roster, so if Urias is joining up on a big league deal, they’ll need a corresponding 40-man roster move. Injured pitchers Luis Medina and Ken Waldichuk are both on the mend from midseason UCL surgery in 2024, however, so moving either to the 60-day IL would create an easy and straightforward path to get Urias into the fold.
