Huge promotion for a top prospect
The Athletics are set to make a major move to their roster. In a late night development Jeff Passan of ESPN is reporting that the club is preparing to promote top prospect Denzel Clarke to the major league roster:
The A’s are shaking up their roster amid a nine-game losing streak and calling up centerfielder Denzel Clarke, one of their top prospects, sources tell ESPN. Clarke, 25, is hitting .286/.436/.419 at Triple-A and is excellent defensively. More moves could be coming as well.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 23, 2025
Well there you have it. The team has been in the doldrums recently and need a spark of energy. That’s exactly what the speedy center fielder will bring to the club. Clarke will be making his major league debut when he dons the Green & Gold, likely sometime during this weekend home series against the Philadelphia Phillies. Maybe he’ll be the one to end this losing streak. Or maybe not. It can’t hurt to try.
The former 4th-round pick has steadily climbed the minor league ladder since being drafted by the organization back in 2021. He was drafted as a project, but one with all the tools to be a major contributor down the line if he could reach his potential. His calling cards are his elite defense and speed but don’t sleep on the right-handed swinger’s power potential. Last year he spent the entirety of the season at Double-A and hit .269 with 13 long balls and 39 stolen bases. That was enough to help him crack most pundits’ Top-5 prospects in the A’s organization.
It seems the club is finally ready to see what they have in Clarke after just 31 games at Triple-A. During that time the 25-year-old outfielder slashed .286/.436/.419 with no home runs but seven stolen bases. The power hasn’t shown up yet this year but it’s in there. It’s yet another aggressive promotion that the team has enacted in recent years after seeing players like Nick Kurtz (20 games at Triple-A before first promotion), Lawrence Butler (22), Jacob Wilson (26), and Zack Gelof (69) get quick callups to the majors. It’s been a mixed bag at this point with those guys but these are the main core of what should be the next A’s playoff team and Clarke should hopefully be one of those pieces of that puzzle.
Where Clarke will play is yet to be determined but, like with Kurtz, the club isn’t promoting him to ride the bench. Current center fielder JJ Bleday is hitting just .204 and is 1 for his last 15 so this promotion may indicate the club has run out of patience for Bleday. Clarke is an elite defender already and should be an immediate boost at least on defense in center field. As of right now the easy move to make roster space is to put infielder Gio Urshela on the IL but indications are that there may be more moves ahead. How the team moves forward from here will be fascinating to watch. Welcome aboard, Denzel!