The Oakland A’s have most of their Opening Day roster in place, but there are still a few final spots in question. One of them is at catcher, where there are multiple candidates competing for a secondary job alongside primary starter Sean Murphy.There are several catchers still in MLB spring camp, but only two of them are already on the 40-man roster: Aramis Garcia and Austin Allen. That doesn’t mean we couldn’t see a surprise non-roster invitee nab the position, but for now we’ll assume the overwhelmingly likely case that it’s between the two rostered players https://www.oaklandfanstoreonline.com/Ramon_Laureano_Hoodie-114.Big picture, Garcia and Allen are similar as sluggers with a lot to prove. Allen has shown more aptitude for making contact in the upper minors, while Garcia is the better defender with a potentially plus arm, but both have power in their bats. They’ve each briefly played in the majors, but neither has set himself apart yet.Let’s start with their spring stats https://www.oaklandfanstoreonline.com/Sergio_Romo_T_shirt-75.Allen: 6-for-22, HR, 3 doubles, 1 BB, 7 KsGarcia: 6-for-18, 2 doubles, 3 BB, 9 KsThey have the same number of hits in almost the same number of plate appearances, but Garcia has gotten on base a couple extra times and Allen has shown slightly more power. They’ve both struck out too much. Add it up and their OPS marks are .850 and .873, and it doesn’t really matter which is which. It’s a tie by this measure.Any hints from manager Bob Melvin?BoMel says Austin Allen is focused on defensive development. Team has confidence in his bat.Also worth noting Allen bats lefty and BoMel loves to play matchups, since Garcia and Murphy are RHB.
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