The Oakland Athletics Have A Young Core Worth Being Excited About

Taking a look at the standings, the current situation of the Oakland A’s does not appear to be one worth feeling good about. The club is 59-78, has a hopelessly negative run differential and has been the laughing stock of the league for a few years now.

Oh, and this is also going to be the last year they have “Oakland” in their name, as a big move is on the horizon for this organization. The entire industry shares the sentiment that baseball belongs in Oakland, but ownership doesn’t feel that way, so things are going to be switching up starting next year.

The A’s will move to Sacramento in the immediate future, ditching the “Oakland” and simply becoming “The A’s” for a few years until their new home in Las Vegas is ready.

The players on this roster had every reason to be lethargic and uninspired heading into this season. Ownership had done everything they could to steer them away and made the A’s one of the hardest to watch teams in baseball, but the players stuck with it.

To their credit, this team does not look anywhere near as bad as expected. The White Sox, who are currently 31-107, are right about where the A’s were projected to be.

There have been many players stepping up in Oakland and suddenly the future doesn’t look so bleak. The fact that this team is not in last place in their division and doesn’t have anywhere close to the worst record in baseball are wins in themselves. Looking a little bit deeper at the product on the field, there’s plenty of hope to be had moving forward.

Let’s give some love to this scrappy bunch of underdogs and possible playoff spoilers that are outperforming expectations in every way they can.

Oakland A’s To Know: Position Players

JJ Bleday

Bleday joined the A’s as a fallen ex-top prospect of the Marlins organization. He had made it up to No. 2 in MLB Pipeline’s Marlins rankings (2021) but saw his shine fade a bit with an uninspiring 65-game cameo in the big leagues back in 2022.

A one-for-one swap involving Bleday and LHP A.J. Puk is how the outfielder made his way to Oakland. He didn’t exactly impress in an 82-game stint last year, but the 2024 campaign has been an entirely different one for him.

In 134 games so far, the 26-year-old has a .790 OPS and 127 OPS+ with 20 home runs and 54 RBI. He’s been the best hitter on this team not named Rooker and was on an absolute tear all throughout the month of August. In 25 games, he hit seven home runs with 17 RBI and a 166 wRC+, boasting a cool .397 wOBA along the way as well.

Bleday is a former first-round pick who’s under team control through the end of the 2028 season. Right now, he’s one of the best hitters on this club and is absolutely a piece worth building around. These A’s are nowhere near where they are today without his semi-surprising ascent from fourth outfielder to borderline All-Star in the span of a single season.

Lawrence Butler

A homegrown talent (sixth round, 2018), Butler broke into the big leagues last season and showed a bit of promise in his 42-game stint, but not quite enough to suggest that he had anything resembling a 2024 breakout in him.

Yet, here he is. In 103 games, the left-handed outfielder has 20 home runs and 53 RBI, which is right in line with Bleday’s production but in 31 less games. Butler has an .842 OPS and 137 wRC+ and was just recently one of Just Baseball’s Players of the Month for the month of July.

Butler’s still only 24 years old and is under team control through the 2029 campaign. He plays the game the right way, even though the team’s vibes haven’t exactly been through the roof this season. Just watch a game with him in it and you’ll see that he’s loose and always having a good time, which tells me that he’s a vibes guy worth keeping around in the clubhouse. Oh and the fact that he’s swinging a red-hot bat will help matters, too.

Zack Gelof

Baseball is such a hard game, which is precisely why Gelof’s strong rookie showing was so impressive last year. He had an .840 OPS through the first 69 games of his big league career and looked to be a long-term building block in Oakland.

However, the wheels have completely fallen off this year. The 24-year-old has completely lost his ability to hit sinkers and sliders, which is a massive reason for his numbers cratering. Last season, he hit .390 against sinkers and .261 against sliders. This year, those numbers are down to .242 and .190.

Gelof has a huge, violent swing that leads to a ton of strikeouts (he leads the AL with 156 of them) but he plays great defense at second base and showed last year that the potential is there. He’s so young and the fact that he’s got a ton of team control helps his case as well. Don’t write this kid off just yet.

Shea Langeliers

Finding a catcher with pop is becoming harder and harder to come by in today’s game. As of right now, only five backstops in the league have 20 or more home runs, with Langeliers being one of them.

Catchers aren’t supposed to be offensive juggernauts, as their value almost always comes more on what they do behind the plate than standing at it. Langeliers isn’t in line for any Gold Gloves, but he hits the absolute crap out of the ball and is also one of the best in the business at catching would-be base stealers.

Let’s start with offense first. The 26-year-old has 23 home runs and 64 RBI this year through 115 games played. He has a 104 wRC+ and his .218 ISO is in a tie for second amongst all qualifying catchers, behind only Ryan Jeffers of the Twins.

On defense, he’s third in the AL in caught stealing (stopping 25 runners) and is second in assists behind the plate. However, he’s also topping the charts in wild pitches, so his chops behind the plate could use some work.

As of right now, though, Langeliers is proving that his value is there, even if it’s as a slugging catcher with a cannon of a throwing arm. Like nearly every other player we’ll talk about here, he’s under control through the 2028 season and is showing what he can do when given the opportunity to play every day. He’s a stable, long-term catcher that should be behind the plate the next time the A’s make it back to contention.

Jacob Wilson

Wilson, the first-round selection in last year’s draft by the A’s, is going to be at the heart of this team’s core for many, many years. He zipped through the minor leagues on his way to a big league promotion just one year after beginning his pro career, and the numbers tell you all you’ll need to know.

In 79 minor league games, Wilson didn’t hit for much power but he posted a .401 batting average (yes, you read that right) with a 1.052 OPS on his way up to Triple-A. He has one of the best hit tools in the game right now and will be the A’s lead-off hitter for the better part of a decade.

Read Aram Leighton’s scouting report on Wilson, Just Baseball’s No. 32 prospect, here.

Oakland A’s To Know: Pitchers

Joey Estes

Originally acquired by Oakland (along with Langeliers) in the Sean Murphy trade back in March of 2022, Estes is still only 22 years old but has been a full-time member of the A’s starting rotation this year.

The right-hander made two poor starts last year but has seen his workload increase this season. In 20 appearances (19) starts, Estes is 6-6 with a 4.29 ERA, 4.41 FIP and 93 ERA+. Not much jumps out on his stat line, but he’s given the A’s some much needed depth and as of late has really been turning things around.

In two of his last three starts, Estes has gone six or more innings, highlighted by a 7.2 inning showing of one-run ball against the Rays a few weeks back. He struck out five and walked one in that outing. His last time out against the Rangers, he punched out seven batters in six innings of work.

The framework is there for a long-time member of this rotation. He’s extremely young, controllable and still developing, but the A’s appear to have found a reliable pitcher to take the ball every fifth day for the foreseeable future.

Mason Miller

You’ve heard of this guy, right? The A’s made the decision to hold on to Miller, easily their top trade chip, at this year’s deadline. He’s been money out of their bullpen all year long and easily made the first All-Star Game of his career.

There’s not enough words to use to describe the electric arsenal Miller has. The right-hander primarily throws a four-seam fastball that averages (yes, averages) 100.8 mph and it’s a pitch he’s thrown over 100 mph 416 times this year. The second-highest total goes to Justin Martinez of the Diamondbacks, who’s done it 321 times, nearly 100 less than Miller.

Miller also boasts the league’s best Whiff % (min. 50 PA) at 40.7%, narrowly beating out Josh Hader. He’s been utterly dominant and at one point was hands down the best relief pitcher in baseball.

45 games later, Miller still has a 14.6 K/9 and has kept his hit and walk rate down after a “meh” showing in 33.1 innings last year, despite the heat. An eventual move to the rotation feels possible at some point for him, but if the A’s choose to keep him in the bullpen, he’ll continue to be one of the game’s best. Oh, and he’s not going to be a free agent until 2030.

JP Sears

Much like Estes, Sears was initially acquired by Oakland in a blockbuster trade (Frankie Montas, NYY, Aug. 2022) and he’s been a reliable presence in their rotation ever since. The left-hander doesn’t exactly jump off the page as an “ace”, but he’s an innings sponge and is a lock to take the ball every fifth day.

This year, Sears is 11-9 with a 4.21 ERA and 95 ERA+ in 27 starts and 151.2 innings. He has gone six or more innings 14 times this year and is currently on quite the hot streak. In five of his last six outings, he’s gone seven (or more) innings, highlighted by a seven shutout-inning performance against the Giants in which he punched out nine batters.

For Sears, durability and reliability are going to be his two strongest traits. So far, he’s given the A’s exactly what they’ve needed from him. He’s 28 years of age and is controllable until 2029.

Mitch Spence

Outside of Justin Slaten on the Red Sox, no other Rule 5 picks from this past year’s draft have stuck around. Spence is one of the success stories. He began the year in the bullpen as a multi-inning option but made a transition to the starting rotation that has worked out nicely.

So far, the 26-year-old has 30 appearances (19 starts) under his belt, posting a 4.50 ERA, 4.21 FIP and 89 ERA+ across 126 innings. He has allowed two or less earned runs in six of his last eight starts and turned in easily the best start of his big league career against the Rays a few weeks ago.

In that start, Spence went seven innings (a career-high) while surrendering four runs on seven hits, highlighted by 10 strikeouts against just one walk.

For a team that’s deep in a rebuild, cheap inning-eating type of starters are going to be of the utmost importance. In Estes, Spears and Spence, the A’s have filled 3/5 of their rotation with the type of arms they need more of.

Honorable Mention – RHP Osvaldo Bido

He may not be a long-term building block, but Bido deserves some love for the performance he’s turned in this year. Originally signed to a minor league contract in November of last year, the right-hander made 10 appearances in Triple-A, striking out batters at a higher rate than he ever had before in his career, before earning a promotion.

Now that he’s up in the big leagues, the 28-year-old has done an excellent job of making his name one you should know. In 14 games (eight starts), he’s sporting a 3.21 ERA and 125 ERA+ in a career-high 56 innings. In each of his last five starts, Bido has gone five innings or more (six in four of them) while allowing no more than two runs and striking out no less than five batters.

Bido has not quite shown enough to warrant a “building block” label, but a larger sample size with the same results could change that quickly.

Closing Thoughts

Brent Rooker didn’t earn a mention here because he’s got less control than others on the list and he’s almost a 100% lock to be traded in the immediate future. He’s easily the club’s best hitter (he’s one of the best in baseball, really) and has far and away the most value of any current rostered player.

It just doesn’t feel like the soon-to-be 30-year-old is a long-term cog in this machine. He’ll command a significant return either this offseason or at next year’s trade deadline. Moving Rooker will help the A’s accelerate their rebuild.

So the Oakland A’s may not be punching their ticket to the postseason anytime soon. That doesn’t mean that there are not some pieces to be excited about on their roster, because there absolutely are some players in place that can and will be a part of this team’s next run at a ring.