Elephant Rumblings: Aviators earn honors in Pacific Coast League

MLB news roundup

Happy Friday, Athletics Nation!

The postseason is well upon us, with the Wild Card round already promptly completed in a series of sweeps: the four Wild Card winners are collectively 8-0 in the postseason so far. The divisional round is up next, beginning tomorrow.

With the playoffs comes awards season, and we shouldn’t expect any Big League honors to be going to an Athletic. Esteury Ruiz and Ryan Noda were in the Rookie of the Year conversation earlier in the season, but since then they’ve since been briskly outpaced by the likes of the Orioles’ Gunnar Henderson.

But this week the Pacific Coast League bestowed honors on two key members of the A’s Triple-A affiliates, the Las Vegas Aviators.

Aviators manager Fran Riordan was announced the PCL Manager of the Year for 2023. This is the second time Riordan has come away with the award, which he also won in 2019, his first season at the team’s helm.

Riordan has been managing minor league teams in the A’s system since 2015; he led the Aviators to a 75-74 record in 2023.

Also this week, one of the Aviators’ top performers was named to the PCL All-Star team.

The tweet makes clear that outfielder Cody Thomas is well deserving of the All-Star nod. Knocking in more than one RBI per game played is no small feat in any league.

Thomas spent a bit of time in MLB with the A’s this season, though he failed to make much of an impression while he was up. Thomas also opted to become a free agent for 2024, so he could wind up with another organization soon. Without a doubt, there will be interested teams.

Congratulations to Fran Riordan and Cody Thomas! It’s great to see them recognized for their achievements within the Athletics organization.

A’s Coverage:

• Las Vegas Aviators’ manager Fran Riordan named Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year
• What the A’s learned about their roster in 2023
• Warriors’ Joe Lacob: If A’s were for sale, ‘we might be interested’ ($)

MLB News & Interest:

• Phillies-Braves 2.0: Ready for an NLDS rematch featuring baseball’s best rivalry? ($)
• How Aaron Nola and Phillies honed their focus for October and picked off Marlins to set date with Braves ($)
• Mets general manager Billy Eppler resigns after 2 seasons: How surprising is this move? ($)
• Astros’ Hector Neris fined, will not be suspended for actions toward Julio Rodríguez ($)
• West Notes: Angels, Rockies, Neris
• Mets Notes: Alonso, Vogelbach, Ottavino
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Roster moves.

Activist opportunities.

Melvin will remain in San Diego.

This comes out right after Epler steps down from his post.