The Oakland A's placed catcher Josh Phegley on the paternity list and selected catcher Ryan Lavarnway from Triple-A Nashville, the club announced today.
Lavarnway has spent the entire season with Nashville and is batting .274 with four home runs and 20 RBI in 61 games. He is 26-for-81 (.321) over his last 23 contests. The 29-year-old right-handed hitter tossed out 11-of-41 (26.8%) attempted base stealers in 48 games at catcher, hit .372 in 12 games at designated hitter and also pitched twice, retiring all four batters that he faced (1.1 ip). Lavarnway was a non-roster invitee with the A's this spring and also played for Israel in the World Baseball Classic. He started all six games at catcher and hit .444 (8-for-18) with four walks, two doubles, one home run and six RBI and earned Pool A MVP honors. Lavarnway made his Major League debut with the Red Sox in 2011 and is a .198 career hitter with seven home runs and 40 RBI in 134 games in six seasons with Boston (2011-14), Baltimore (2015) and Atlanta (2015).
Phegley is batting .200 with three home runs and seven RBI in 43 games. He is hitting .153 over his last 24 games after batting .250 over his first 19 contests.