Report: A's to promote top prospect Manaea

The Oakland Athletics needed a starter to help reinforce their rotation and they had just the man for the job.

Oakland will promote top prospect Sean Manaea to the big leagues to start Friday against the Houston Astros, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports, citing multiple sources.

Manaea, who was acquired from the Kansas City Royals last season as part of the Ben Zobrist trade, will take over the rotation spot left void after Monday's demotion of left-hander Eric Surkamp.

The 24-year-old Manaea, who was a candidate to go No. 1 overall in the 2013 draft before a hip injury knocked him down to 34th, is considered the 65th-best prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline.

During spring camp with the Athletics, Manaea made five appearances, three of which were starts, posting an ERA of 4.40 with 16 strikeouts across 14 1/3 innings.

Manaea was pitching well at Triple-A Nashville prior to his reported call-up, owning a 2-0 record with a 1.50 ERA across three starts, and 21 strikeouts in 18 innings.