Athletics top prospect Franklin Barreto makes his MLB debut on Saturday

Ranked as a top-40 prospect to start the season, Barreto is now a big-leaguer

One of the pieces from the Josh Donaldson trade has been promoted by the Athletics. Middle infielder Franklin Barreto, the top prospect in the A's system, got the call Saturday and was in the starting lineup in Chicago. 

Barreto, 21, was ranked as a top-40 prospect in baseball heading into the year by Baseball America. In 68 games for Triple-A Nashville, Barreto was hitting .281/.326/.428 with 10 doubles, four triples, eight homers, 32 RBI, 37 runs and four steals. He'll flash good range at short, but errors have been a problem in Triple-A. He also struck out 92 times compared to just 17 strikeouts.

Fantasy-league owners will want to check out Scott White's instant reaction on the news and whether Barreto merits an immediate add.

It remains to be seen how long Barreto stays up -- and, obviously, performance will factor in there as he could definitely force the A's hand -- but incumbent shortstop Marcus Semien is beginning a minor-league rehab assignment. 

In the meantime, Barreto will get his feet wet in the bigs and surely he hopes that he'll make it impossible for the A's to send him back down. The gold standard this season on that front is Dodgers phenom Cody Bellinger. Remember, the Dodgers were only calling him up temporarily at the time. He changed things by his play. All rookies, such as Barreto in this case, will strive to do something similar.