Did y'all enjoy the brief instance where the Sacramento Athletics were in second place? Wasn't it fun? Well, after a 2-9 skid, that's all a thing of the past. After a good couple weeks of looking pretty decent, the A's have returned to their regularly scheduled mediocrity. Yet...there still exists the slightest chance of a rebound.
The Athletics, for the first time in a while, have multiple people they can seriously count on. J.P. Sears and Luis Severino in the rotation, Soderstrom, Rooker and Wilson at the plate, Holman and Sterner in the 'pen, and potentially people like Butler and Miller if they stop slumping. The core is finally developing, and you can actually see an identity in this A's team. Which is ironic, considering that until this team gets to Vegas, they're in their single most anonymous era of the team's history. Even the Kansas City teams had an aesthetic to this. What are people gonna say about the lasting historical appeal of the No Use For a Location A's? Sacramento has its own basketball team, it has name brand recognition, but apparently not enough for a baseball team to allow the use of it.
Jacob Wilson is the kind of player a team like the A's can base the next couple years off of. He's an extraordinary contact hitter, already hitting .343 with 26 RBIs, and he's the highest valued position player with a 1.4 WAR. So far he seems to be a reverse negative of his father Jack, who played for the Pirates for most of the 2000s. Jack was a defensive whiz at short but only really contact hit during his peak season in 2004. Meanwhile, Jacob is an excellent contact guy with below-average shortstop ability. Hopefully he works on that as the A's essentially give him the position. I'm excited for the prospect of a Wilson-Gelof DP combo, with no offense towards Luis Urias, who's been above average filling 2nd so far.
The rookies have also been pretty exciting. Gunnar Hoglund has 3 starts under his belt and has a 3.78 ERA with 15 Ks. With J.T. Ginn down, he seems like a pretty sturdy solution at SP5. Meanwhile, both Justin Sterner and Grant Holman have been excellent bullpen pieces in their first full seasons of MLB play. Not every 2025 rookie has completely met expectations, as Max Muncy needed more time in the minors and Nick Kurtz hasn't gone above .200 yet, but the A's are building this at the correct pace.
Even if the A's got swept in the bay area classic, and lost a series against the Dodgers, they're not exactly out of the race. It's still May, there's still a peak underdog period ahead, and there are still pieces the team can regain that can make them good again. If something doesn't happen this year, I predict there'll be a competitive team once the Vegas residency begins.
Coming Tomorrow- A team so bad, even the breakout catcher seems like a disappointment.
I was a little bummed about getting swept by the Giants... but wasn't surprised. The best part about being an A's fan is that expectations are low.
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