What to know about the season-opening roster for the Lansing Lugnuts
The Lansing Lugnuts will get their third season as an affiliate of the Oakland Athletics started Friday under the direction of first-year manager Craig Conklin..
And Lansing will be the home to open the season for several of Oakland's top prospects.
Here's what to know about the Lugnuts' roster ahead of Friday's Midwest League opener on the road against the Great Lakes Loons.
Another talented catcher
One of the top catching prospects in the minors was on display in Lansing last season in 2020 first-round draft pick Tyler Soderstrom, who opened his season with the Lugnuts before eventually reaching the Triple-A level. Now another top catching prospect will be on display to open this season in Daniel Susac, who was selected 19th overall in the first round of last year's MLB draft out of the University of Arizona.
Susac is the No. 2 ranked catching prospect in the Oakland system behind Soderstrom by MLB Pipeline. He is ranked as the Athletics' No. 8 prospect overall. Susac hit .298 with eight doubles, one home run and 15 RBI in 27 games while primarily playing at Low-A Stockton after making his debut last season.
A returning top prospect
The other top-10 rated Athletics prospect — according to MLB Pipeline — who is opening the season in Lansing is a familiar face in shortstop Max Muncy. The 20-year old Muncy got promoted to Lansing in July and had 17 extra-base hits and 13 steals in 14 attempts while appearing in 42 games to finish the season.
Muncy, who was taken with the 25th overall pick in the first round of the 2021 MLB draft, hit .226 with three home runs and 19 RBIs with the Lugnuts last season. He is ranked as Oakland's top minor league shortstop and its No. 10 overall prospect.
Michigan connections
The Lugnuts roster has a couple of players with Michigan connections in pitcher Blake Beers and outfielder Danny Bautista Jr. Beers pitched at the University of Michigan before being drafted by the A's in the 19th round of the 2021 draft. He spent part of last season with the Lugnuts.
Bautista is the son of former Detroit Tigers outfielder Danny Bautista. The elder Bautista spent the first four seasons of his MLB career with the Tigers from 1993-96 before going on to play for the Atlanta Braves, Florida Marlins and Arizona Diamondbacks. The 22-year old Bautista Jr. will be making his Midwest League debut.
Familiar faces
Outside of Muncy and Beers, there are plenty of other players who spent some time in Lansing last season and are part of the opening roster. Infielder Euribel Angeles, the A's No. 28 prospect, is returning along with infielders Alexander Campos, Drew Swift, Sahid Valenzuela, Jack Winkler and Joshwan Wright and outfielders Lazaro Armenteros and Jonny Butler.
Pitchers returning include Christian Fernandez, Kumar Nambiar, Jack Owen and Mac Lardner, Jorge Juan, Jacob Watters and Brock Whittlesey.
Catcher Cooper Uhl played for the Lugnuts in 2021 and is also part of the opening roster.
More: Lugnuts' bats boom to put away Spartans in Crosstown Showdown
Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @brian_calloway.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Baseball: What to know about the Lansing Lugnuts' opening roster
