OAKLAND, Calif. — The Oakland Athletics traded catcher/infielder Christian Bethancourt to the Tampa Bay Rays for minor league right-handed pitcher Christian Fernandez and minor league outfielder Cal Stevenson, the club announced today.
Bethancourt is batting .249 with four home runs and 19 RBI in 56 games with the A’s. He began the year at Triple-A Las Vegas and was 5-for-19 (.263) in five games when he was added to the A’s roster on April 15. Bethancourt has started 24 games at first base, 12 at catcher and eight at designated hitter. This is his sixth season in the majors, his first since 2017, and he has career highs in runs (23), doubles (11) and stolen bases (4).
Fernandez has spent the entire season at Single-A Charleston where he is 5-2 with a 2.79 ERA in 16 games, including eight starts. He has struck out 87 batters in 58.0 innings, an average of 13.50 per nine innings, and held the opposition to a .201 batting average. The 22-year-old right-handed native of Venezuela was originally signed by the Rays on March 23, 2016. Fernandez is 11-13 with a 3.79 ERA in 72 games, including 43 starts, in five professional seasons. He has 286 strikeouts in 263.2 career innings (9.76 per nine innings) and has walked 114 while allowing a .226 opponents batting average.
Stevenson is batting .265 with two home runs and 17 RBI in 57 games with Triple-A Durham. He has walked 31 times for a .376 on-base percentage and has nine stolen bases. The 25-year-old left-handed hitter was born in Fremont, Calif., attended Chabot JC along with the University of Arizona and Nevada-Reno, and was a 10th round selection of the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2018 First-Year Player Draft. Stevenson was dealt to Houston at the 2019 trading deadline and Tampa Bay prior to the 2020 season, and is a .291 career hitter with 18 home runs, 148 RBI, 60 stolen bases and a .407 on-base percentage in 321 games in four minor league seasons.
