Yoenis Cespedes will start the season as the A’s center fielder and Coco Crisp will move to left field, manager Bob Melvin announced Monday.
Crisp will make his debut in left Tuesday in an exhibition against the Chicago Cubs. With Cespedes in center and Josh Reddick in right, it will provide the first look at the A’s projected outfield for their March 28 season opener against the Seattle Mariners in Tokyo.
Melvin’s announcement was his first confirmation that Cespedes, who signed a four-year, $36 million contract March 3, will be on the team’s opening-day roster.
But that’s no surprise given the potential the A’s believe he has and the money they are paying him.
“I think Cespedes is more comfortable in center, Reddick is more comfortable in right,” Melvin said. “With Coco, his versatility probably works against him in this respect. To maneuver that all around would be difficult. I still feel like Coco is one of the best center fielders in the game.”
Crisp started in center for the A’s, when healthy, the past two seasons. But the A’s want Cespedes, who defected from Cuba last summer, to be as comfortable as possible as he makes the transition to the major leagues.
When the A’s agreed to terms with Cespedes in February, Crisp told the San Francisco Chronicle he should remain in center field unless “(Cespedes) is a demigod come down from the heavens.”
He reiterated his desire to stay there upon reporting to camp.
On Monday, Crisp expressed disappointment but didn’t come across as bitter.
“I was a little hurt obviously,” Crisp said. “I think everybody here would like everything to play out in a fashion they want. You just have to deal with everything as (best) as you possibly can and try to be the best you can with the new situation.”
Crisp has played 212 games in left field during his career, according to baseball-reference.com, but none since 2005 with Cleveland. Melvin planned to start Crisp in left Monday in a 6-5 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks but instead let him devote a day to working there in pregame drills.
“The ball comes off the bat different,” Crisp said. “The angle is different. It felt different, weird, I’m not going to lie. It’s going to take some adjusting.”
Cespedes said through interpreter Ariel Prieto that he was happy to play center but was willing to move if the A’s had wanted him to. He also said Crisp was giving him pointers on playing the position in the majors.
Melvin stressed that the outfield alignment isn’t set in stone past Japan. The A’s will keep evaluating Cespedes in center once the team returns to the Bay Area and plays four exhibitions before resuming the season April 6.
Cespedes is just 3 for 20 in seven exhibitions, and two of those hits came in his first game, when he homered.
He has waved at a few breaking balls for strikeouts and will continue seeing a steady diet of those. Defensively, Melvin said, Cespedes hasn’t been challenged enough to get a good read on him.
Over the weekend, Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson tutored him on baserunning.
Cespedes was picked off first by Arizona catcher Miguel Montero on Sunday. But the A’s had been working with Cespedes on secondary leads, and Melvin didn’t blame him for not getting back in time.
“There are a lot of variables with him you don’t have to deal with other players,” Melvin said. “There’s going to be some mistakes, and there’s going to be some aggressive mistakes. (But) you have to see how far you can go.”
