The A’s veteran is happy to be playing in the major leagues instead of tending to his farm in Panama.
Oakland Athletics’ Christian Bethancourt throws a ball to a fan before a baseball game against the Baltimore Orioles in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, April 21, 2022. Christian Bethancourt is part of the new generation of Oakland Athletics. Like many of them, he never imagined he’d be here.
It was time to make a difficult decision. Adaptability has always been in Bethancourt’s nature – he’s one of the rare major leaguers to be both a pitchera position player . But, at 30 years old, was he ready to be flexible enough to give up his dream of becoming a major leaguer again? Bethancourt literally bet the farm on himself. Sensing two years ago this day would come, the self-described “city boy” partnered with his brother-in-law to purchase a 17-acre spread in his native Panama, where they would raise cattle and become meat and dairy farmers.
Then everything changed when Bethancourt received a call from the A’s this past winter. His hands-on farming experience would have to wait. He left his brother-in-law in charge of the farm and quickly signed a minor league contract with Oakland, which included a spring training invite. “My expectations were never to be this soon in the major leagues,” said Bethancourt, who came into Friday’s game batting just .189, despite some quality at-bats. “It was more of ‘leave a good impression in spring training, go to Triple-A, do your thing and wait for something to happen.’Bethancourt has never ascended to the heights predicted of him when Atlanta signed him as a 16-year-old international free agent in 2008. He’s played parts of six seasons while batting .
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