A's young players show improvement in series vs. White Sox

That’s all the A’s want to see over the final five weeks of the season. Despite losing 6-1 against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field on Sunday afternoon, Oakland feels like it is in a much better place than in April.

“The progress that we’ve made from April to now, this team is much more competitive,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “We’ve got guys that are gaining experience every day here at this level, which can only lead to their futures and to our future success.”

The results might not be there for the A’s, who dropped to a league-worst 55 games under .500 (38-93). But as a team, they feel like they’ve come a long way since Opening Day.

“If you look around here, we’ve had a lot of moving parts all year,” Paul Blackburn said after allowing four runs across six innings. “This crew’s been together now for a while, the same group, which has been good. A lot of guys [are getting] an opportunity here. A lot of guys [are] seeing what it’s like to play here and getting used to the speed of the game.”

Added Kotsay: “I think there’s a vast improvement from April to August. We talked about incrementally improving throughout the season. Obviously, we’ve got some different faces here from April.”

The A’s continue to rebrand their baseball team for the future with players like Shea Langeliers, Zack Gelof and Ryan Noda -- all of whom continue to show promise.

Langeliers’ 15 home runs are tied for the fifth most among American League catchers, Noda leads all rookies in walks (65) and on-base percentage (.386) and Gelof hit his 10th homer in 35 games on Thursday, breaking an A’s franchise record.

“All year he’s taken good, consistent at-bats,” Kotsay said of Noda's success. “His on-base percentage is 140-plus points over his batting average. So that says something. He gives a good quality at-bat."

There are also other youngsters that the A’s hope end the season strong heading into 2024. Lawrence Butler (Oakland’s No. 4 prospect), Jordan Diaz and Nick Allen are three more players who could be key pieces for the future.

Esteury Ruiz is another rookie who falls under that category. The speedy outfielder has seen his playing time diminished in recent days due to the arrival of Butler in center.

But on Sunday, Ruiz got his first start since Wednesday and continued to show how impactful he can be on the basepaths. In the sixth, he swiped second and third for his 50th and 51st stolen bases of the season. That’s the most by an A’s player since Rickey Henderson swiped 66 bags in 1998.

“He’s a weapon,” Kotsay said. “Any time he gets on base, he’s a threat to steal and to score. He showed that today by stealing second, stealing third and then Zack getting a sac fly. So he manufactured that run, and it’s definitely a weapon, and it’s a big part of his game.”

It’s been a struggling year for the A’s, and they know that. But they also know that building momentum into the offseason is essential. 

“It's been a long year,” Blackburn said. “There’s been a lot of things that have happened for us. A lot of struggles for us, and being able to end this year on a good note and … build a little bit of momentum and confidence in the offseason for everyone [is the goal].” 

This late-season stretch for the A’s is a good opportunity for them to gain some confidence heading into 2024, especially against a handful of division opponents.

“I think that these next [31] games -- 18 of them being in our division going forward -- will obviously allow us to gauge where we’re at,” Kotsay said. “And where we’ve come from, because in April and May against those opponents, we didn’t fare too well.”

In the season’s first two months, the A’s were outscored, 176 to 71, in 27 divisional games (4-23 record). They are surely hoping for better results this time around as their 2023 campaign winds down. 

“It’s a great challenge as well to go in against Seattle, Texas, Houston and go try to take something from them that they’re trying to earn, which is obviously a playoff spot,” Kotsay said. “But more so for us to be competitive and finish the season with that confidence.”