Franklin Barreto

BIOGRAPHY

Franklin Jose Barreto Rojas was born on February 27, 1996, in Caracas, Venezuela. He is a shortstop and second baseman for the Oakland Athletics in the MLB.

Barreto signed with the Toronto Blue Jays for a $1.45 million signing bonus on July 2, 2012, as Baseball America's top-ranked international prospect of 2012. He played his first professional season with the Gulf Coast League Blue Jays, and later the Bluefield Blue Jays, batting .276 in 59 total games played and leading the Gulf Coast League in slugging percentage. In 2014, he was promoted to the Vancouver Canadians and opened the season with a .313 batting average through 43 games. Barreto played in 73 games for Vancouver in 2014, and batted .311 with 6 home runs, 61 RBI, and 29 stolen bases. On September 24, he was named the MVP for Vancouver in 2014. On October 1, Barreto was named the top prospect in the Northwest League by Baseball America.

On November 28, 2014, he was traded to the Oakland Athletics, along with Kendall Graveman, Sean Nolin, and Brett Lawrie, for Josh Donaldson. His 2015 season with the Advanced-A Stockton Ports ended early when he was placed on the disabled list on July 26 with a wrist contusion. Barreto appeared in 90 games and hit .302 with 13 home runs and 47 RBI. He committed 34 errors at shortstop, which led the California League. In the offseason, he played 30 games with the Águilas del Zulia of the Venezuelan Winter League, batting .174 with 2 home runs and 14 RBI.

Barreto was named as the 8th best shortstop prospect by MLB going into the 2016 season. He was selected as a Texas League All-Star while playing with the Double-A Midland RockHounds in 2016. On August 31, he was promoted to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Barreto finished the 2016 season batting .284 with 11 home runs and 53 RBI. After the 2016 season, the Athletics assigned Barreto to the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League, and added him to their 40-man roster. He began the 2017 season with Nashville, hitting .281 with 32 RBI in 68 games. He was recalled by the Athletics on June 24. He made his major league debut that afternoon, playing second base. During the game, he recorded his first career home run in his second career at-bat off of James Shields.