A hot start soon fizzled out in the second half
We continue with our player review series by heading back to the infield. Today we take a look back on Abraham Toro’s time with the Athletics, which started well before falling apart late in the season.
How was he acquired?
The Athletics moved fast to add Toro to the roster last winter, acquiring him in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers on November 15th in exchange for Triple-A right-handed starter Chad Patrick, who did not make his big league debut in 2024. The club would later agree to a $1.275MM contract with Toro for the ‘24 season.
What were the expectations?
The team was quite familiar with Toro after he came up with the division-rival Houston Astros before getting traded to the Seattle Mariners. The former top prospect finally got some serious playing time with Seattle in 2022 but the switch-hitter failed to solidify himself in the big leagues. Still, Toro was only just turning 27 and looked good in Triple-A for the Brewers in 2023. And while it was a small sample Toro went 8-for-18 with a pair of home runs in just nine games for Milwaukee. The team didn’t have many proven options that were clearly better than him and the acquisition cost was minimal. Toro was another roll of the dice the team made in an effort to strike gold for pennies on the dollar.
2024 Results
Toro began the season with the major league club but on the bench as one of two backup infielders (along with Darell Hernaiz). Toro was likely in line for at least a part-time role at third base before the club made the late addition of JD Davis to the roster right before Opening Day. While Davis got the Opening Day nod Toro would soon start eating into his playing time while also getting some playing time at second base. Soon enough Davis was designated for assignment and removed from the roster, opening up third base for Toro on a full-time basis.
With Davis gone and Hernaiz hurt, it was finally Toro’s turn, and the switch-hitter made the most of his opportunity. Toro rose up the lineup to the point where he was the everyday leadoff man by the time May rolled around. At his high-water mark this past year he was hitting .290/.335/.435 with 13 doubles and five home runs. Not your prototypical slash line for a third baseman but it was working, and the modest investment looked to have paid off.
Once the calendar turned to June however things went south hard for Toro. Over 14 games in June the third baseman went 11-for-65 (.169) before straining his hamstring on June 21st against the Twins. Toro wound up missing exactly a month and went 3-for-8 on his rehab assignment but upon returning just didn’t look the same. The former top prospect went just 9-for-60 upon his return, losing his starting spot at third base to younger options Max Schuemann and Darell Hernaiz. The club designated Toro for assignment on August 27th and spent the final month of the year in Triple-A.
2025 Outlook
Toro is now a free agent free to sign anywhere he wants. The former top prospect showed enough during the first half of the 2024 season that he’ll almost certainly latch onto a team in need of infield depth. While the Athletics could always use depth the club moved on from Toro so that they could start looking at younger, possibly long-term options, making it highly unlikely that he returns to the club for the upcoming 2025 season in Sacramento. Never say never but it’s more likely Toro tries to latch on as a bench bat with another team, just like how he began this past year.
