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TOKYO — Things were a lot different for Ramón Laureano just a year ago.
Around this time in 2018, the A’s center fielder was frustrated in extended spring training down in Arizona in the aftermath of breaking his left pinky finger after he was hit by a pitch in a Cactus League game. The injury robbed him of re-establishing himself as a top prospect with his new organization after the Houston Astros had soured on him and eventually traded him to Oakland earlier that offseason.
“It’s been a terrific ascent,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “He’s literally a guy who has the ability to be a five-tool player.”
Now in 2019, he earned the honor of stepping to the plate against Marco Gonzalez for the first at-bat of the regular season as the A’s leadoff man against the Seattle Mariners from the Tokyo Dome.
The way Laureano’s life has taken a complete 180-degree turn over the span of a year is enough to make any player sit back and celebrate just for a second. But Laureano is such an in-the-moment player that he didn’t even realize how much his career has changed in such a short time until the subject was brought up by a reporter.
He applied that same attitude towards earning his the first Opening Day start of his career. It’s an honor, but he was not doing too much celebration when he found out.
“I just take it like a normal game,” Laureano said of the Opening Day role. “It’s just another day. I don’t think about it too much.”
The energy Laureano brings in the leadoff spot is a perfect counterpart to the vibes that will go off at the Tokyo Dome from Japanese fans who will surely be in Ichiro Suzuki’s corner for what very well could be the final two games of his major league career.
“He’s a passionate player who wears his heart on his sleeve,” A’s manager Bob Melvin said. “There’s a lot of energy in what he does and I think that profiles pretty well for the leadoff spot.”
The decision to bat Laureano in the leadoff spot was not an easy one for Melvin. He said there were other options the club considered, but Laureano’s performance in the A’s final exhibition game at the Tokyo Dome vs. the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, going 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored, clinched it for him.
Laureano, 24, won’t be the regular leadoff man. That is a spot the A’s will tinker with throughout the year with Marcus Semien and Robbie Grossman as other strong candidates. But Laureano’s skills allow him to hit anywhere in the order. He showed that in his short time with the club last year when he served as a spark plug on offense during the A’s playoff run.
It did not take long for Laureano to make his big-league impact, coming up clutch in the 13th inning of his major league debut with a walk-off single. He went on to bat .288 with five home runs, 12 doubles and 19 RBIs while also scoring 27 runs and stealing seven bases in 48 games.
“He has some power, has some speed, you watch him play the outfield, we had a sneaky suspicion last spring that we would end up seeing him,” Melvin said. “The injury set him back a little bit, but once he got to the big leagues his talent level took over.
“He’s not the type of guy who gets nervous. He’s out there playing as hard as he can all the time.”
