Oakland Athletics Purchase Contract of RedHawks' Ryan Delgado

Ryan Delgado, the designated hitter/catcher for the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks of the Independent American Association, has had his contract purchased by the Oakland Athletics. 

According to a January 11 press release from the AA, Delgado is the fifth RedHawks player to have his contract purchased by an MLB club this offseason and eighth this year. 

Delgado was originally drafted by Atlanta Braves in the 32nd round of the 2010 MLB draft out of Azusa Pacific University. His statistics (courtesy of Baseball Reference) are deceiving, though this may be another case of a late bloomer finally getting that opportunity to play a full season. When that occurs, only good things can happen. 

In two seasons with the Braves' organization Delgado spent time in Danville, Rome and Lynchburg. During that time he showed some pop, belting eight home runs to go along with 20 doubles in 263 at bats. But everything changed this year. 

After begin released in April of 2012, Delgado was quickly picked up by the RedHawks. 

A career .300 hitter, Delgado had a breakout season going deep 20 times—good enough for a share of the league lead—and was second in RBI with 86. In 93 games, he was third in extra base hits with 47 and fourth in slugging percentage (.551). 

Delgado’s numbers proved worthy enough to earn a selection to the AA All-Star team as their designated hitter when the rosters were announced in September.

Devon is a manager at a financial institution in Northern Ontario, Canada, and he can be reached at [e-mail]. You can follow the GM's Perspective on Twitter and Facebook. His full bio can be seen here.