The Athletics are in agreement with utility player Jack Winkler on a minor league contract, as first reflected on the MLB.com transaction tracker. He has been assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas.
Winkler backfills the upper minors infield depth which has been tested by a few injuries. Jacob Wilson and Zack Gelof have landed on the injured list within the past week. That pressed Darell Hernaiz and rookie Joshua Kuroda-Grauer up from Triple-A. The A’s also designated Brett Harris for assignment over the weekend when they acquired reliever Hayden Juenger from the Blue Jays. They’re presumably hoping that Harris will clear waivers and stick around, but they won’t know that for sure until later in the week.
The 27-year-old Winkler played in 14 big league contests with the Marlins a year ago. The A’s have a lot of familiarity with him, as they drafted him out of the University of San Francisco in 2021. Winkler peaked at Double-A in his previous stint in the organization. He’d spent this year in Triple-A with the Astros until being released last week.
Winkler was hitting just .184/.260/.306 over 227 plate appearances for Houston’s affiliate. He’s a lifetime .228/.311/.342 hitter over six minor league seasons. He’s not going to provide much offensively but can back up anywhere in the infield.
