James Naile Enjoys Busy Year

OAKLAND—Righthander James Naile’s mom just would not leave him alone with her calls from back home in Missouri. The phone kept buzzing in his pocket, and James just kept ignoring it. Sallyanne would not relent.

Finally, James broke down and took the call.

“Did you hear the news?” she asked excitedly. No, he had not. So she refused to tell him. She ordered him to look on social media to learn the source of her excitement.

Naile then fumbled around his phone to find that he had been named the Rawlings Gold Glove winner for minor league pitchers. That’s quite an achievement for a 20th-round pick in 2015 from Alabama-Birmingham who still is building arm strength after Tommy John surgery.

“It was very incredible to win it,” said Naile, 23. “I didn’t realize I was in the running, so it was quite a surprise. It’s a testament to a lot of good coaching.”

Naile pitched at all four full-season affiliates in 2016 and finished at Double-A Midland, where he won the clinching game in the Texas League finals. He also led the Athletics system with 156.2 innings and went 9-11, 3.39.

“I couldn’t be happier for him,” pitching coordinator Gil Patterson said. “What a fierce competitor. He had a chance to show us what he can really do.”

Naile’s best pitch is a sinker that helped him generate a 2-to-1 groundout-to-airout ratio in 2016. “The bottom just drops out of (his sinker),” Patterson said.

Naile combines his sinker with a changeup and developing cutter that also has been highly effective. His fastball sits around 89 mph, and the A’s hope he will continue to develop arm strength as he recovers from his elbow surgery.

“After a good, long offseason, if that (velocity) can click up a tick or two, you’re talking about a major league guy,” Patterson said. “He just needs to keep pitching and learn what small adjustments he needs to make.”

A’s ACORNS

• The A’s released righthander Ryan Brasier, so that he could sign with Hiroshima in Japan. He would have come to big league camp as a non-roster player.

• Third baseman Renato Nunez played a lot of first base this winter in the Venezuelan League. Through 43 games at Aragua he hit .317/.400/.565 and ranked second in the league with 11 home runs.