Luis Rafael Barrera....Luis, and his wife, Marlin, have one child, Lizmarlin....Played for Mesa in Arizona Fall League in 2018, representing A’s organization...Named to Rising Stars Game....Has played in Dominican Winter League for Tigres del Licey each offseason since 2018-19....Originally signed by Athletics scout Raymond Abreu.
2022
Began year with Triple-A Las Vegas and batted .314 (22/70) with six doubles, one triple, three home runs and eight RBI in 17 April games for Aviators... Recorded walk-off homers in consecutive Aviators home games (April 10 vs. Reno & April 19 vs. El Paso)...Had contract selected by Athletics, May 9 and totaled 32 games for Oakland during big league stint... First career MLB home run was a walk-off vs. Angels, May 14 (Game 1) with three-run HR off Raisel Iglesias...Second player in MLB history whose first career HR was a walk-off with his team trailing by multiple runs and down to its final out (Hank Severeid, St. Louis Browns, April 17, 1915, vs. White Sox).
2021
Made his Major League debut with the A’s and went 2-for-8 (.250) in six games over two stints...Was recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas May 18 and made his debut on May 19 against Houston…struck out in his first at bat...Made his first start on May 23 at Los Angeles (AL) in left field and went 1-for-3…singled off Aaron Slegers in the fourth inning for his first hit...Was 1-for-5 in four games when he was optioned to Las Vegas May 27...Returned to Oakland on Sept. 27 and went 1-for-3 in one game, a start in left field on Oct. 3 at Houston...Spent the balance of the season with the Aviators where he batted .276 with four home runs and 37 RBI in 96 games in his Triple-A debut...Tied for second in the A’s farm system and ranked fourth in the Triple-A West in triples (6)…also ranked seventh in the A’s farm system in batting...Was successful in 10-of-12 (83.3%) stolen base attempts...Hit .297 (27-for-91) with a .703 OPS against left-handed pitchers, .268 (67-for-250) with a .755 OPS and all four of his home runs against right-handers...Had a .329 batting average with runners in scoring position and was 3-for-8 (.375) with the bases loaded…is 15-for-41 (.366) with 39 RBI with the bases loaded in his career as a minor leaguer...Batted .358 with a .897 OPS at home, .203 with a .604 OPS on the road...Hit .311 in the seventh inning or later…batted .405 in the fourth inning and .452 in the seventh inning but just .152 in the first inning...Started 32 games in right field, 32 in center field, 23 in left field and three at designated hitter…had seven assists, which tied for the most among Triple-A West outfielders…however, committed a career-high 10 errors (.942 fielding percentage), which was four more than any other Triple-A outfielder...Hit .350 as a right fielder, .296 as a left fielder and .192 as a center fielder…was 0-for-1 with a walk in two pinch hitting appearances...Saw his most playing time with 29 games batting leadoff...Hit .188 with four RBI in 26 games for Licey in the Dominican Winter League following the season.
2020
Was batting .296 with a triple and five RBI with the A’s during the spring when he was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas March 7…was added to the A’s 60-man player pool July 1 but did not play in 2020…was on the Taxi Squad for the Wild Card Series and Division Series…was rated as the A’s number seven prospect by Baseball America following the season…played for Licey in the Dominican Winter League and hit .216 in 13 games.
2019
Was limited to just 54 games at Double-A Midland due to shoulder surgery, but hit .321 in 54 games…added nine doubles, a career-high-tying 11 triples, four home runs and nine stolen bases…despite his limited playing time, he finished second in the Texas League, third in the A's farm system and tied for sixth in all of the minors in triples…has 22 triples over the last two years, which is third-most in the minors…was named to the Texas League Midseason All-Star team… batted .324 (56-for-173) against right-handed pitching compared to .314 (16-for-51) against lefthanders…however, eight of his 16 hits against lefties were for extra bases and he slugged .608 compared to .486 against right-handers…hit .347 when leading off an inning, .342 at home, .324 at night and .304 with runners in scoring position…went 9-for-18 (.500) with three triples in the ninth inning…batted .331 in 31 games in the leadoff spot but walked just three times…also hit third (19 games), fifth (twice), seventh (once) and eighth (once)…started 36 games in center field, 12 in right and one in left field…had five assists in 50 games overall in the outfield.
MINORS: Hit safely in each of his first five games (9-for-21, .429) but then went 4-for-18 (.222) over his next six contests through April 17…was batting .333 in 11 games overall when he was placed on the injured list April 18 with a strained right shoulder…was reinstated May 4 and went 2-for-17 (.118) over his first four games…then had a season-high 10-game hitting streak from May 12 to 21 (14-for-46, .304)…went 0-for-3 on May 29 against Corpus Christi, which lowered his season batting average to .256…then reached base safely in each of his final 24 games, batting .398 with a .417 on-base percentage…went 4-for-4 with a walk and a pair of doubles June 1 against Amarillo…it was the second four-hit game of his career…had a career-high two triples June 7 against Frisco…collected his second four-hit game of the season and the third of his career June 14 at Arkansas to start a season-ending 10-game hitting streak (19-for-44, .432)…that included six straight two-hit games from June 16 to 21 (12-for-25, .480…tripled in three straight games at Arkansas from June 14-16…played for the South in the Texas League All-Star Game and was named Most Valuable Player after going 3-for-5 with two runs and a triple in a start in center field…batted .406 with six triples in 22 games in June…was placed on the injured list a second time June 28 with a right shoulder subluxation…ended up having surgery on July 12 to repair the labrum in his right, non-throwing, shoulder…the surgery was performed by Dr. Douglas Freedberg in Arizona…was recalled by Oakland on Sept. 9 and added to the 60-day injured list to clear a 40-man spot for Jesús Luzardo.
2018
Began the year at Single-A Stockton where he hit .284 in 88 games…was promoted to Double-A Midland July 15 and batted .328 in 36 games with the RockHounds…combined for a .297 batting average, 26 doubles, 11 triples, three home runs, 64 RBI and 23 stolen bases in 124 games…tied for seventh in all of minor league baseball in triples…had career highs in games, at bats, runs (75), hits (132), doubles, triples, extra base hits (40), RBI, hit by pitches (5), walks (41) and stolen bases…ranked second in the A's farm system in triples, third in batting, fourth in runs, fifth in stolen bases, seventh in RBI, eighth in hits and ninth in extra base hits…hit .298 (102-for-342) against right-handed pitching compared to .294 (30-for-102) against left-handers…slugged all three of his home runs and had 37 of his 40 extra base hits against righties for a .453 slugging percentage (.333 vs. lefties)…batted .387 with runners in scoring position, including .418 with RISP and two outs…was 6-for-14 (.429) with 15 RBI with the bases loaded…hit .206 in April but then batted .297 or better in each of the remaining four months (.316 in May, .297 in June, .313 in July and .328 in August)…batted .320 with all three of his home runs at home with Stockton… hit .313 at night, .214 during the day…had a .500 batting average in the first inning…appeared in 61 games in center field, 43 in right field, 15 in left field and one at first base…committed four errors as an outfielder for a .986 fielding percentage…had 12 outfield assists, including 11 with Stockton, which tied for third in the California League…hit in every spot in the order except third and fourth but saw his most playing time with 46 games batting seventh and 31 hitting eighth… played for Mesa in the Arizona Fall League following the season and hit .263 with 12 RBI and six stolen bases in 15 games…named to the East squad for the AFL Rising Stars Game…also played for Licey in the Dominican Winter League and went 11-for-25 (.440) with four walks (.500 onbase percentage) in 17 games.
MINORS: Began the year at Single-A Stockton and hit .111 over his first 12 games…drove in a season-high four runs April 9 against Rancho Cucamonga…also had four RBI April 28 at Lake Elsinore and then drove in three runs the next day against the Storm…was batting .141 through April 26 before hitting safely in seven consecutive games (12-for-27, .444) to boost his average to .250 on May 3…had a season-high in hits May 24 at Rancho Cucamonga when he went 4-for-5… had a season-best 11-game hitting streak from June 26 to July 6…went 17-for-42 (.405) with 13 runs scored and six multiple hit games during the streak, which boosted his average to .292… that was the highest it would reach at Stockton…then went 7-for-32 (.219) over his final eight games with the Ports to finish at .284…was tied for second in the CL in triples (7) at the time of his promotion to Midland on July 15 and ranked seventh in runs (51)…his .328 batting average with the RockHounds was second best in the Texas League from July 15 through the end of the season…also ranked first in triples (4), tied for fifth in steals (13) and seventh in on-base percentage (.378)…went 3-for-14 (.214) over his first four contests…then reached base safely in 20 consecutive games from July 20 to Aug. 11…had a .361 batting average and .425 on-base percentage during the streak…stole a season-high three bases Aug. 3 against San Antonio, his third multiple-steal game of the season…it gave him 11 steals over his first nine games with the RockHounds…was batting .330 at Midland when he was placed on the disabled list Aug. 23 with a lacerated finger on his right hand…was reinstated Aug. 30 and went 5-for-16 (.313) with five RBI over his final four games.
