The cool thing about the A's is that this is a team where Tyler Soderstrom, Lawrence Butler, Brent Rooker, Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers have all had scorching runs at the plate, with many of them chasing 25 to 30 homers this year. The depressing part is that these runs haven't happened at the same time.
We're not at the stage of development where everyone in this lineup can synchronize and be on at the same time. Right now they're all kinda trading off. Tyler Soderstrom hit .284 in April and .386 in August, but in between he hit .242. Soderstrom got off to the kind of start this year that seemed to indicate a consistently powerful year, and it didn't happen. Brent Rooker hit .300 in June and .250 every other month. Nick Kurtz had that incredible July, hitting .395 with 11 homers and 27 RBIs, and now hasn't had a homer all August, with 12 hits and only 3 RBIs. The streaks have been awesome, but the cooldown periods have been rough.
That's why seeing Shea Langeliers become the A of the moment in August is still concerning. To be fair, in July Langeliers hit .293 with 7 homers and 13 RBIs, but already in August he's hitting .385 with 6 homers and 10 RBIs. He was astonishingly okay during the first half, and now his power bat is taking off, with 24 homers overall this year and 53 RBIs. Langeliers has always been a power-centric catcher, but this has been Langeliers' most consistent season at the plate. He's hitting .272 where he normally hits .230. Granted, his defense hasn't been terrific this year, but the bat more than makes up for it. The Sean Murphy deal only happens if the A's are confident they're getting a future catching option back, and honestly Langeliers is worth more to the A's right now than Murphy is to the Braves.
But like everyone else in this lineup, Langeliers could drop off and make yet another Athletic have to pick up the slack. Will it be Max Muncy? Will it be Colby Thomas? Will it be Lawrence Butler for real this time? Who knows.
I do like that you're seeing the true everyday players of this A's team come into the fold. Gelof seems like the 1st baseman going forward, Jacob Wilson the primary shortstop, Butler and Soderstrom have two of the OF spots down. What's odd is you're seeing people that were initially big parts of the team to come finding themselves out of the loop. Zach Gelof spent a couple games in the majors after missing the majority of the season with an injury and now is back in the minors. I still think he's a good idea to cover 2nd for these teams, but he didn't perform as well as Urias, Schuemann or Muncy while he was up. Similarly, J.J. Bleday is now replacement level, and he may be a liability going forward. If Denzel Clarke and Colby Thomas can do better, then what's the point?
It's nice that a last place A's team can still include a bit of intrigue, and some interest. They're not competing, probably not for a while, but you can definitely see a competitor forming, and if everyone lines up they could be dangerous in a couple years.
Coming Tomorrow- Brought up around the deadline, he represents his team's hopes for a new chapter in their history.
Well said (or written). The A's core lineup is solid... and could potentially be dangerous if they progress and stay together. It's a shame that their stadium won't be ready for another few years. I feel like if it was ready to go, they'd be more willing to invest in the roster and fill some of the gaps.
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