On Tuesday, the Baltimore Orioles acquired outfielder Jai Miller from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for cash considerations.

Miller played well for AAA Sacramento as he played in 110 games and hit .276 with 32 home runs and 88 runs batted in. He also hit 24 doubles and stole 16 bases.

Dan Duquette, Baltimore’s VP of Baseball Operations, stated that Miller will compete for a spot on the major league roster come spring time. With Adam Jones set in center and Nick Markakis set in right, it looks like Miller will be competing against Nolan Reimold for left field.

Miller, who will turn 27 in mid January, has spent the last four seasons in AAA compiling a .271 average with 85 home runs and 253 RBI. Miller’s major league experience has been limited, but did hit .250 in 12 at bats last year with Oakland while hitting one home run. While with the Kansas City Royals in 2010, Miller hit .236 with one home run in 55 at bats.

One cause of concern has been his alarmingly high strike out rate. While he did hit those 32 home runs at AAA Sacramento in 2011, he also struck out 179 times in 410 at bats. While getting experience with the Royals in 2010, he struck out 23 times in those 55 major league at bats.

Miller was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the fourth round of the 2003 draft. During his time with the Marlins, he only saw one at bat in the pros, an at bat in which he struck out.

While he does have great speed and base running ability, Baltimore does not need another strike out prone hitter. With Mark Reynolds and Chris Davis already on their team, I can’t see Miller making the roster as a starter, but picking up a player with good speed and some power for cash considerations was not a bad move by Duquette.

Reimold deserves to get his fair shake as the starter in left this year. Last season while in Baltimore, Reimold hit .247 with 13 home runs and 45 RBI in 267 at bats. He also stole seven bases for the O’s.

Currently, I cover the Orioles for the Baltimore Guide along with being addicted to the entire Major Leagues as well as the NFL.

REFS:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/reimono01.shtml

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/milleja04.shtml

Orioles Press Release

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Chili Davis is back in the majors. Only this time it’s as a coach.

The Oakland Athletics announced on Saturday that Davis will serve as the team’s hitting coach. He served as the hitting coach for the PawSox this past season.

Davis, who’s also spent time as a hitting coach for the Australian National Baseball team and for the Los Angeles Dodgers instructional league, played 19 seasons in the bigs. He was selected to three All-Star Games and won three World Series titles.

Davis, who last played in 1999 with the Yankees, also spent time with the Giants, Angels, Twins and Royals. A career .274 hitter, the switch-hitting Davis blasted 350 home runs, including a career-high 30 with the Royals in 1997.

The hiring of Davis completes manager Bob Melvin‘s Oakland staff. Davis said he intends to get down to business right away in an effort to get to know his players.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned the last two years is the most important thing they look for is that you really care and you’re going to be consistent with what you say to them and that you really are paying attention,” Davis told ESPN.com.

Davis replaces Gerald Perry, whose contract wasn’t renewed.

By Matthew Hays

– Staff Writer

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Sep 27, 2011 – On Tuesday afternoon the Kansas City Royals announced they had acquired 24-year old pitcher Ethan Hollingsworth in a trade with the Oakland Athletics for disgruntled first basemen Kila Ka`aihue. For Ka`aihue he receives a fresh start, while the Royals receive a back end of the rotation guy who will likely provide minor league depth, with the potential to join the major league bullpen at some point.

For Hollingsworth this marks his third organization in the past year as he previously had been traded last winter from the Colorado Rockies to Oakland for Clayton Mortensen.

Hollingsworth features five pitches on the mound, a sinker, four-seam fastball, and slider. He also throws a curve and changeup. His speeds vary from the high 80′s to low 90′s. Back in March he was ranked the 36th best prospect in the A’s system according to Scout.com.

Originally a fourth-round selection of the Rockies in 2008, Hollingsworth is a 6’2″ 200 lb right-hander who pitched predominately with AA Midland in the Texas League (same league as Northwest Arkansas), but did appear in two games at the end of the year with the AAA Sacramento River Cats. Over his four years in the minors, Hollingsworth is 31-29 with a 4.21 ERA in nearly 500 innings pitched. He strikes out nearly a batter an inning, while producing 3.67 strikeouts for every one batter he walks.

He pitched in one start against the Naturals this season, going 5.1 innings and allowed seven runs (six earned) on 10 hits. He also pitched out of the bullpen against Omaha in the playoffs on September 14th, allowing two runs on three hits in 2.1 innings pitched.

While the chances that the trade amounts to much is likely slim, Ka`iahue clearly didn’t fit into the future of the Royals with Eric Hosmer at first base. The Royals were able to acquire an arm that is younger than the player they gave up, as Ka`aihue is 27.

Read More: Kila Ka`aihue (1B – KAN), Clayton Mortensen (P – COL), Eric Hosmer (1B – KAN), Oakland Athletics, Kansas City Royals, Colorado Rockies

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Guillermo Moscoso held Kansas City hitless until rookie Salvador Perez singled with two outs in the eighth inning and the Oakland Athletics beat the Royals 7-0 Wednesday.

Moscoso (8-8) wound up allowing two hits in 8 2-3 innings. He walked one and struck out four. Moscoso set an Oakland record by retiring 30 consecutive hitters, the final 13 against Seattle last Friday and the first 17 against the Royals. He walked Kansas City’s Alcides Escobar with two outs in the sixth.

Perez broke up the no-hit bid by lining a clean, opposite-field field single to right.

OAKLAND (CBS/AP) – Guillermo Moscoso held Kansas City hitless until rookie Salvador Perez singled with two outs in the eighth inning, and the Oakland Athletics beat the Royals 7-0 Wednesday.

Moscoso (8-8) wound up allowing two hits in 8 2-3 innings. He walked one and struck out four.

Moscoso set an Oakland record by retiring 30 consecutive hitters - the final 13 against Seattle last Friday and the first 17 against the Royals. He walked Kansas City’s Alcides Escobar with two outs in the sixth.

Perez broke up the no-hit bid by lining a clean, opposite-field field single to right.

Moscoso recorded 16 of his outs on fly balls to the outfield, 10 to center fielder Coco Crisp. Crisp’s diving catch on Billy Butler’s sinking liner ended the first inning.

Butler’s eight-pitch at-bat in the ninth ended with A’s third baseman Scott Sizemore making two errors on the play. That prompted Oakland manager Bob Melvin to bring in Fautino De Los Santos, who got the final out on one pitch.

Jemile Weeks had four hits and drove in a run for the A’s, who won for the fifth time in seven games. Sizemore doubled home two runs and Hideki Matsui, Josh Willingham and Adam Rosales also drove in runs.

Bruce Chen (10-7) allowed six runs on eight hits in his 6 1-3 innings.

Crisp, after missing four games with a sore right foot, doubled in the first inning, stole his 40th base and scored on Willingham’s sacrifice fly.

The A’s added another run in the fourth when left fielder Alex Gordon misplayed Michael Taylor’s fly ball into a two-base error, allowing Kurt Suzuki to score.

Earlier, Taylor lost a hit when he was thrown at first base by strong-armed right fielder Jeff Francoeur. The 9-3 putout was just the fifth in the AL since 1974.

NOTES: The Royals have a major league-best 48 outfield assists, 25 of them at home plate. Francoeur has 95 career outfield assists, most in the majors since he made his debut in 1995. … A’s IF Brandon Allen was given the day off. … Melvin said he’ll wait until after Thursday’s off-day to decide if he wants to use an extra pitcher into the rotation, with LHP Josh Outman the leading candidate. … RHP Brandon McCarthy (8-7, 3.41) will start for the A’s at the Texas Rangers on Friday. McCarthy has thrown back-to-back complete games, including a three-hit shutout in his last start. … RHP Luke Hochevar (10-10, 4.76) starts Thursday’s game in Seattle for the Royals. Hochevar will pitch at Safeco Field for the first time. He’s coming off an impressive victory in which he did not allow an earned run in eight innings. He’s 5-2 with a 3.51 ERA since the All-Star break. … Crisp became the 10th A’s player to record 40 stolen bases in a season.

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