Players who played for the Guardians and Athletics | Immaculate Grid Answers for Grid 120 July 31, 2023

Are you hooked on Immaculate Grid, the daily trivia game from Baseball Reference? We sure are! We’ll warn you right now—this blog post contains spoilers. But if you’re looking for a little help with today’s grid (or you already filled it out and want to know who else qualified) read on.

To fill out today’s grid, you need to choose a player who played for both the Guardians and Athletics. There were 256 players who played with both Cleveland and Oakland. Here are some examples:

Jesús Aguilar

Jesús Aguilar has seen action in six big league seasons. He was an All-Star in 2018 with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Aguilar was signed by Cleveland Indians scout Jesus Mendoza in 2007. He hit .209/.286/.311 for the DSL Indians, driving in 45 runs in 68 games as their main first baseman. He tied for 6th in the Dominican Summer League in RBI. The next year, he batted .305/.412/.460 with 46 RBI in 55 games, fielding .996. He was 8th in the DSL in RBI. In 2010, he played for the AZL Indians (.259/.293/.482, 7 homers in 29 games) and Mahoning Valley Scrappers (.244/.301/.366 in 32 games). He tied for the Arizona League home run lead. Jesús had his first exposure to full season leagues in 2011 and did not miss a beat. He hit .292/.370/.544 with 19 homers and 69 RBI in 95 games for the Lake County Captains and .257/.323/.389 in 31 games for the 2011 Kinston Indians. He tied Jon Garcia for 7th in the Midwest League in home runs, was 3rd in slugging (behind Brian Fletcher and Josh Whitaker) and was second in OPS (42 points shy of Whitaker). He was named MWL All-Star first baseman, joining Hernán Pérez, Billy Hamilton and Nick Castellanos on the infield. Among Indians farmhands, he finished the year tied for third in doubles (30, even with Tyler Cannon and Chad Huffman), second in homers (23, one behind Jerad Head) and led in both RBI (82, 7 over Luis Valbuena) and total bases (234, 12 over Head). Baseball America named him the best power hitter in the Indians chain and their 25th best prospect. He made his Venezuelan Winter League debut with the Leones del Caracas, producing at a .275/.358/.478 clip in 81 plate appearances in 2011-2012.

John Axford

John Axford was a big league reliever and the 2011 National League Rolaids Relief Man with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Axford began his college career at University of Notre Dame, undergoing Tommy John surgery in December 2003. He sat out 2004 and most of 2005 before transferring to Canisius College, going undrafted after a so-so senior season. He dominated a collegiate summer league in Canada and was signed by scout Mike Gibbons for the New York Yankees. Axford spent one season in the Yankees’ chain at four different levels, including Triple A,but was released after the season. He hooked on with the Milwaukee Brewers the next spring, 2008, and was sent to the Brevard County Manatees, making his major league debut with the Brewers at the tail end of the 2009 season.

Rajai Davis

Rajai Davis focused on baseball in college. A well-rounded athlete whose biggest asset is his speed, he was drafted in the 38th round of the 2001 amateur draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Davis was signed by scout Charlie Sullivan and made his pro debut that summer. Originally a second baseman out of school, he was converted to the outfield. He hit .262/.364/.274 for the GCL Pirates that year with 11 steals in 14 tries. He also went 1 for 12 with two walks for the Williamsport Crosscutters. In 2002, Rajai returned to the lowest level, going at a .384/.436/.554 clip for the GCL Pirates with 24 steals in 30 tries. He was 0 for 4 with Williamsport and 6 for 14 with 6 walks for the Hickory Crawdads. An off-year may have knocked him out of baseball but instead he dominated that season. Davis led the Gulf Coast League in batting average, OBP, hits (86), at-bats (224), total bases (124) and extra-base hits (25, tied for the lead with Joey Votto). He was one point behind the slugging leader, Hanley Ramirez. He made the GCL All-Star team, but at 21 was old for the level and did not make Baseball America’s list of the league’s top 20 prospects. The league did not pick an MVP but Topps named him the GCL Player of the Year.

Matt Carson

Matt Carson was drafted by the New York Yankees in the fifth round of the 2002 amateur draft. His brother, Clayton, was a college coach. His mother is a cousin of Bill, Jim and Bob Buckner. Matt began his career in 2002 with the Staten Island Yankees, hitting .203 in 48 games. He spent the next season with the Battle Creek Yankees, hitting .259 with 11 home runs and 100 strikeouts in 119 games. In 2004, he played for the Battle Creek Yankees and Tampa Yankees, hitting a combined .271 with 15 home runs and 111 strikeouts in 132. He split 2005 between Tampa and the Trenton Thunder, batting .238 with nine home runs in 112 games. In 2006, he played with those teams again, hitting .248 with ten home runs in 69 games. He spent all of 2007 with Trenton, hitting .248 with 16 home runs, and in 2008 he played for Trenton and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, hitting .285 with 15 home runs in 111 games.

Milton Bradley

Milton Bradley had a productive major league career while routinely enveloped in controversies centered on his temper. He has run afoul of the law during and since his playing days, involved and convicted of a series of deeply troubling domestic violence charges.

Bradley grew up in difficult circumstances in Long Beach, CA with a single mother who had trouble making ends meet. He explained that this hardship motivated him to work hard to reach the major leagues, in order to ensure his mother would no longer have to deal with these problems. He was drafted in the 2nd round of the 1996 amateur draft by the Montreal Expos and was seen as a prize catch, a five-tool player with tremendous potential. In the 1999 Pan American Games, Bradley hit .292 for Team USA to help them qualify for the 2000 Olympics. In the Gold Medal game, the center fielder hit 5th for the Americans and doubled off José Contreras; he scored the US’s lone run in that 5-1 loss.

All 256 Players

You can see all 256 players who played with both Cleveland and Oakland on Baseball Reference. Good luck with your grid!

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