HOUSTON, TEXAS - AUGUST 12: Jonah Bride #77 of the Oakland Athletics doubles in a run in the second inning against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on August 12, 2022 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)
Bob Levey / Getty ImagesHOUSTON — That rookie infielder Jonah Bride struck two doubles to left field in the Oakland Athletics’ loss to the Astros on Friday was notable — it was one more extra-base hit than Bride had in his first 23 games in the majors.
“I definitely want to start to drive the ball more,” Bride said Sunday.
Bride showed that potential in the A’s minor-league system. He had 22 extra-base hits in 78 games at Double-A in 2021 and 21 over 40 minor-league games this year before debuting with Oakland in June. He is mostly yet to carry it into his early encounters with major-league pitching. Bride is hitting .233 with a .267 slugging percentage in his first 94 plate appearances.
Some elements of Bride’s reputation as a hitter have appeared while the A’s evaluate him at second and third base. Bride awoke Sunday with his contact rate (84.9%) and swing-and-miss rate (15.8%), in limited at-bats, much better than MLB averages. His hard-hit rate (26.1%), meanwhile, was well below league average (35.8%) on balls put into play.
The A’s deem Bride, a 23rd-round draft pick, one of their system’s best fastball hitters. Bride was 11-for-52 with just a 7.6% whiff rate against fastballs with Oakland entering Sunday. Friday, he struck both his doubles on fastballs from Luis Garcia that were slightly above the strike zone.
Against breaking pitches, however, Bride was 3-for-21 with a 31.6% whiff rate.
“We’ve always known he’s a plus fastball hitter,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “He’s seen more breaking balls in the stretch that he wasn’t getting the results he wanted. The league made an adjustment. Now it’s his turn to make an adjustment back.”
Bride said he’s including swings against a machine that throws sliders into pregame hitting work. Nine of his 14 strikeouts are against breaking and off-speed pitches. Since the start of 2021, Bride has struck out less than he has walked in the minors. But he also realizes strikeouts may accompany trying to drive the ball more.
At High-A in 2019, Bride recalled, he started out with a low strikeout rate but a lower batting average — he was making contact with two strikes but “slapping the ball.” Bride was encouraged to take the same swing with two strikes as he did earlier in counts. His strikeouts went up, and so did his average.
“That was just a learning experience for me,” Bride said. “I’m not going up there just to not strike out. You still want to do damage as a corner infielder. I don’t want to be just a singles hitter. Something to work on.”
Next step: Right-hander Brent Honeywell Jr. will begin a minor-league rehab assignment Tuesday at Low-A Stockton, the latest step in his attempt to return from an elbow stress reaction that occurred in spring training.
Honeywell threw 35 pitches in a simulated game Friday at the A’s complex in Arizona and “felt strong,” Kotsay said.
Acquired in an offseason cash trade with the Rays, Honeywell has said he hopes to pitch for the A’s before the season ends.
Kotsay said Honeywell’s rehab assignment is “a big step. Happy for the kid. He has persevered through a lot. For him to feel good and be able to go out and compete, that’s a really encouraging sign.”
Matt Kawahara covers the A’s for The San Francisco Chronicle.
