Oakland gets RHPs Ryan Cusick and Joey Estes, C Shea Langeliers and OF Cristian Pache
OAKLAND, Calif. — The Oakland Athletics acquired right-handed pitchers Ryan Cusick and Joey Estes, catcher Shea Langeliers and outfielder Cristian Pache from the Atlanta Braves in exchange for first baseman Matt Olson, the club announced today. According to MLB.com, Pache is the Braves number one prospect, Langeliers is number two, Cusick is number six and Estes is number 14.
Pache made his Major League debut with Atlanta in 2020 and is 8-for-67 (.119) with a home run and four RBI in 24 games in two seasons with the Braves. He spent most of the 2021 season at Triple-A Gwinnett where he hit .265 with 11 home runs and 44 RBI in 89 games. The 23-year-old native of the Dominican Republic made his professional debut in 2016 and is a .280 hitter with 32 home runs, 215 RBI and 67 stolen bases in 517 games as a minor leaguer. Pache is rated as the Braves third best prospect by Baseball America.
Langeliers was the Braves first round selection in the 2019 First-Year Player Draft and combined to hit .256 with 22 home runs and 63 RBI in 97 games with Double-A Mississippi and Gwinnett last year. He won the Hank Aaron Award as the Braves minor league position player of the year in 2021 after ranking second in the Double-A South in slugging (.498), third in home runs (22) and fourth in OPS (.836). The 24-year-old right-handed hitter played in 54 games in 2019 and has a .255 career average with 24 home runs and 87 RBI in 151 games in two seasons. Langeliers is the Braves number two prospect according to Baseball America.
Cusick was the Braves first round selection in the 2021 First-Year Player Draft and went 0-1 with a 2.76 ERA in six starts for Single-A Augusta last year. He struck out 34 in 16.1 innings and walked just four. The 22-year-old right-hander attended Wake Forest University where he was 10-10 with a 5.01 ERA and 206 strikeouts in 158.0 innings in 35 games, 28 starts, over three seasons. Cusick is listed as the Braves ninth best prospect by Baseball America.
Estes was 3-6 with a 2.91 ERA in 20 starts with Augusta in 2021. He held the opposition to a .184 batting average and struck out 127 batters in 99.0 innings while walking just 29. The 20-year-old right-hander led the Low-A East in ERA, opponents batting average and strikeouts and ranked second in innings pitched. Estes was the Braves 16th round selection in 2019 and is 3-7 with a 3.39 ERA in 25 starts in two seasons in the Atlanta farm system.
Olson was named to his first American League All-Star team in 2021 and batted .271 with 39 home runs and 111 RBI in 156 games. He had career highs in batting, on-base percentage (.371), runs (101), hits (153), doubles (35), home runs, RBI, walks (88), extra base hits (74) and stolen bases (4). Olson ranked fourth in the AL in walks, fifth in OPS (.911) and extra base hits (74), tied for fifth in home runs and RBI, sixth in slugging (.540) and on-base percentage, eighth in total bases (305) and tied for ninth in runs. A compensation pick following the first round of the 2012 draft, Olson hit .252 with 142 home runs and 373 RBI in 575 games over six seasons with the A’s. He is a two-time AL Gold Glove Award winner at first base (2018-19) and his 548 career games at first base are third most in Oakland history behind Mark McGwire (1251) and Jason Giambi (728).
