Oakland A's 2023 preview: Intriguing names, low expectations
The Oakland A’s don’t kid around when it comes to roster teardowns. Blink once and the front office has probably shipped another player out of town. The latest: Former top pitching prospect A.J. Puk was sent to the Miami Marlins last weekend for outfielder JJ Bleday.
You can count on one hand the names that remain from the A’s last playoff team in 2020. Tony Kemp, traded to the A’s in 2019, is the veteran of the squad along with outfielders Ramón Laureano and Seth Brown. But the 2023 season isn’t about the rapid deterioration of more hopeful times. It’s shaping into a clinic on how to piece together a compelling baseball team for a transient franchise running on MLB’s lowest payroll.
Will the A’s be good this year? Probably not. Will they have some intriguing players to watch? Absolutely.
Here are a few players and themes to watch for as spring training kicks off Wednesday.
Who is pitching?
The A’s have nine pitchers in camp who will be competing for a starting job and only a few who seem guaranteed spots.
General manager David Forst said they signed Japanese star Shintaro Fujinami with the intention of having him in their rotation. Fujinami, 28, is intriguing because of his high-90s fastball and a slider with immense potential. But he slipped from All-Star to the minor leagues in Japan because of wildness. Fujinami could emerge as a pitcher to watch this year if the A’s can help him rediscover his All-Star form.
Prospect Hogan Harris is also competing for a starting spot. Harris, 26, flew through three levels of the minor leagues to Triple-A last season, collecting 105 strikeouts, 43 walks and a 3.42 ERA over 73 2/3 innings. He’s a potential under-the-radar breakout player to watch this spring who could crack the rotation. But he has plenty of established names to compete with. Kyle Muller, the former Braves top prospect the A’s landed in the Sean Murphy trade, was the odd-man out of a stacked Atlanta rotation in previous years. Perhaps opportunity in Oakland is all the 25-year-old needs.
Ken Waldichuk, JP Sears, Adrián Martinez and Adam Oller will also compete for starting roles. All made their big league debuts last season.
Rotation returners Paul Blackburn, James Kaprielian (if healthy after AC joint surgery in the offseason) and free-agent Drew Rucinski, who spent the past four seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization after making 32 appearances for the Marlins in 2018, should have a leg up for rotation spots given their experience.
Who is playing?
The lineup is built for plenty of positional versatility, including from new additions Aledmys Diaz and Jace Peterson — who can play infield and outfield positions, though Peterson is likely to man third base most of the time. Those free-agent signings set the tone for plenty of moving parts manager Mark Kotsay can move around depending on pitching matchups and hot hands.
Defensive wizard Nick Allen should be the everyday shortstop. The A’s can only hope his bat catches up to his glove — the 23-year-old batted .207 with a .547 OPS in 100 games last season after hitting .256 with a .675 OPS in parts of two seasons at Triple-A.
Laureano hit a career-worst .211 last season (but with 13 home runs), but should be an everyday outfielder, likely in right field depending on matchups. Brown should see plenty of time in the outfield or at first against right-handed pitching after leading the team last year with 25 home runs. Along with Brown, Bleday adds another left-handed bat to a right-handed-heavy outfield that also features Esteury Ruiz — an intriguing base-stealing threat acquired from Milwaukee in the three-team trade that sent Murphy to the Braves — and Cristian Pache, who has struggled at the plate.
Conner Capel and Cal Stevenson are left-handed hitters on the active roster that can compete for outfield at-bats, too.
The A’s will need to find a position for Jordan Diaz, a strong contact hitter who limits his strikeouts but has defensive shortcomings that limit his usability. Diaz could play some second base alongside utility player veteran Kemp with Jonah Bride, Kevin Smith and Dermis Garcia vying for playing time, too.
Shea Langeliers still has star potential and should get plenty of time catching alongside Manny Piña or as designated hitter alongside free-agent signing Jesus Aguilar.
Who is on the rise?
The roster is already lined with some of the organization’s top prospects: Waldichuk, Ruiz, Diaz and potential reliever Freddy Tarnok. We may also see some of their younger top prospects. Catcher/first baseman Tyler Soderstrom, the A’s top ranked prospect, flew threw the minor leagues to Triple-A last season batting a combined .267/.324/.501 line with 29 homers and 105 RBIs in 134 games between High-A, Double-A and Triple-A at age 20.
Zack Gelof, 23, hit .270 with a .815 OPS between Double-A Midland and nine games in Triple-A Las Vegas. He hit five home runs during his time with the Aviators. Keep that up this year, Gelof, a second-round pick in the 2021 draft, could be competing for some time in the infield for the big league team.
Projections
The A’s are a mosaic of potential and cheap veteran versatility. Fangraphs’ algorithm projects the A’s to win 72 games, good for dead last in the American League West. This may not be the best year for those wanting to watch a winning team. For the die-hards who choose to ignore the Howard Terminal drama, it could be an underrated fun season to witness.
Shayna Rubin is a Bay Area News Group sports reporter for The Mercury News and East Bay Times. She covered the Oakland A's from 2019 to 2021 and, most recently, the Golden State Warriors' championship run in 2022. Shayna is a San Francisco native. She is a graduate of San Francisco State University with a BA degree in journalism and a MA degree in broadcasting and electronic communication arts.
