Marcus McBeth signs with Oakland (03, 05)

Marcus McBeth signed with the Oakland Athletics, a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. This will be his second time with Oakland, as he came up with them.

Marcus spent last year in AAA Pawtucket in the Boston system. He went 2-3 with a 2.69 era in 44 games with 3 saves. He pitched 67 innings, and gave up only 43 hits, and 30 walks while striking out 66. Before that in 2008 he pitched in both Louisville and in Pawtucket. He combined to go 2-1 in 28 games. In Louisville he went 1-1 with a 6.20 era in 24.2 innings.

McBeth made his major league debut with the Cincinnati Reds on June 6th, 2007. He would get into 23 games with the Reds that season, going 3-2 with a 5.95 era. He also pitched in Louisville that season for the Reds AAA affiliate, going 1-1 with a 2.56 era in 30 games with 12 saves.

He was traded On April 27th of 2007 from Oakland to Cincinnati for Chris Denorfia. Before the trade McBeth was in Sacramento, AAA for the A's. He was 1-0 with a 1.80 era in 8 games with 5 saves.

In 2006 Marcus pitched in three diffrent stops for the A's. He went from A-Stockton to AA-Midland to AAA-Sacramento. His start of the year was great he gave up no runs in eight games in Stockton with seven saves. After that he would spend the majority of the year in Midland. In 44 games he went 3-2 with a 2.53 era with 24 saves. He really struggled in a six game stretch in Sacramento with a 11.05 era.

The amazing thing about McBeth is that he started out as a right fielder with a cannon of an arm. He was drafted by the A's in the 4th round of the 2001 draft out of the University of South Carolina. He would play his first games in 2002 and would combine to hit .227 in the Arizona rookie league and A-Visalia. The next year he came to Kane County as our right fielder. He would hit .256 in 68 games with 4 homers, 9 doubles and 3 triples. His season would end prematurly on July 26th as he tore some ligaments in his hand going after a ball in the outfield.

After that he would move up to A-Modesto in 2004 and hit .234 in 99 games. His arm was always really strong, so the A's made a pitcher out of him.On May 30th, 2005 he came back to the Cougars this time to work out of the bullpen and learn how to pitch.

He would go 1-2 with a 5.03 era in 16 games for the Cougars. His season was over a early that year as on July 29th he was placed on the disabled list with a right pinky contusion.

Marcus is 29 years old going into the 2010 season, his arm is pretty fresh as he has only thrown less than 300 innings. He will either be in the A's bullpen or more than likely will be in AAA-Sacramento as insurance.