Cardenas Moving On Up

With Gregorio Petit and Eric Patterson being promoted to the major leagues this week, the Sacramento River Cats are suddenly looking at a new middle infield. Yung-Chi Chen and Adrian Cardenas bring their .300+ batting averages with them to Triple-A.

The Oakland A's announced on Friday that infielder Gregorio Petit was recalled to Oakland. Petit is the third infielder to be recalled to Oakland from Triple-A Sacramento in the past week. Jack Hannahan and Eric Patterson were the other two.

The River Cats had a deep infield, so there wasn't another infielder added to the roster initially when Hannahan was promoted late last week. However, with the two latest promotions, the River Cats needed some reinforcements. The A's have promoted infielders Adrian Cardenas and Yung-Chi Chen to Sacramento to take the place of Patterson and Petit. Chen joined the River Cats on Thursday and went 1-3 in his Sacramento debut. Cardenas will join the team tonight.

Both players could bring a spark to what has been a quiet offense in Sacramento in the early going. Cardenas is the A's top infield prospect. He was off to a terrific start this season, batting .372 with 13 extra-base hits and a 1033 OPS in 19 games for the Double-A Midland Rockhounds. The 21-year-old was a non-roster invitee to the A's big league spring training camp this year. He was acquired from Philadelphia as part of the Joe Blanton trade last July.

Chen was also off to a great start with Midland. The former World Baseball Classic and Futures Game participant was hitting .324 with 10 RBIs in 17 games for Midland before the promotion. Chen also took part in the A's big league spring training camp this year. He was claimed off of waivers from the Seattle Mariners last winter.

In addition to Chen and Cardenas, the Midland Rockhounds lost utilityman Corey Wimberly. He has landed on the DL with a hand injury. Wimberly was batting .348 at the time of the injury. Catcher Anthony Recker and infielder Mike Affronti were added to the Rockhounds' roster on Thursday. They are likely to add another infielder today or tomorrow.