Top A’s prospect, Cal alum Daulton Jefferies to make big league debut Saturday

Daulton Jefferies, the former Cal pitcher whom the A’s drafted 37th overall in 2016, will make his major league debut Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader against the Texas Rangers.

The 25-year-old righthander has been at the A’s alternate site in San Jose this season.

“He seems to be a real composed kid,” said manager Bob Melvin, whose team will be playing the second of three doubleheaders in an 8-day period that ends Monday. “He had to go through some injuries, but he finally gets a chance to make his major league debut and he was pretty excited when I told him that.”

A biceps injury during spring training in February set Jefferies back a bit after a promising 2019 in which he’d been named the organization’s minor league pitcher of the year. He had a 10.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio at Single-A Stockton and Double-A Midland, striking out 93 batters in 79 innings while walking only nine.

“It’s something that’s always been there for him,” Melvin said of Jefferies’ command. “It’s something a lot of pitchers have to work into, knowing where the baseball is going on a consistent basis. That’s never been an issue for him.”