Ramón Laureano has set a high standard for his own defense in center field, but he still impressed A’s manager Bob Melvin with a sprinting, back-handed catch of Austin Nola’s drive Friday night in Seattle.
“I thought it was over his head to start,” Melvin said. “He had to have a perfect route to catch that ball.”
There might have been another factor: Laureano is positioning himself deeper this season, he said, an adjustment aimed at increasing his range to well-hit fly balls. Laureano, known for his throwing arm, said he has moved his average depth back to about 320 feet or more.
“It’s a little bit hard to throw people out,” he said recently. “I feel like the team can get the most out of me playing deeper than actually throwing people out. Because if I catch the doubles, I don’t have to throw home to get them out.”
With a runner on second in the eighth inning Friday night, Laureano broke nearly straight backward on Nola’s liner and made the catch as his foot hit the warning track. On Saturday, Laureano did not rule out being able to make that play last season, but he attributed it partly to “playing where I’m supposed to” and credited bench coach Ryan Christenson with helping his positioning.
“Laureano’s in the same realm of (Matt) Chapman, where you make insanely great plays and it’s Laureano being Laureano,” pitcher Chris Bassitt said. “But that play last night was top-notch.”
Offensively, Laureano moved to the No. 3 spot in the lineup Saturday after batting second the first seven games. Melvin and A’s hitting coach Darren Bush both noted Laureano’s better grasp of the strike zone; last season, Laureano struck out 123 times with 27 walks in 481 plate appearances.
“He’s learned how to control his position better, he’s learned how to prepare better, and we’re starting to see all those things come together,” Bush said. “When you approach the strike zone the correct way you’re letting the ball travel longer, creating time as a hitter to see the baseball … That is part of the process Ramón went through.”
Field note: The A’s take pride in defense, so Melvin said it was “a little bit of a shock” to watch back-to-back games with multiple errors. He suggested the defense is still catching up after the three-month layoff, and the A’s will not change their defensive work or drills.
Three of the team’s five errors have been charged to pitchers. Bassitt said he believes players are still responding physically to the quick build-up to the season.
“I think you’re going to see a lot better baseball out of everybody in about a week,” Bassitt said.
Matt Kawahara is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
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