Oakland A’s offseason outlook: Sean Murphy, Shea Langeliers and the catching depth

The Oakland A's catching group was the only position group worth positive bWAR (0.6). It was also the ninth most valuable catching team in baseball. Catching was a positive for the A’s during the season. Starter Sean Murphy was one of the top catchers in all of baseball and a Gold Glove and Silver Slugger finalist. The A're added to their catching depth through the draft, when they selected Arizona backstop Daniel Susac with their first-round pick.

Sean Murphy is arbitration-eligible for the first time and will earn $3.5 million in his first year of arbitration eligibility. Stephen Vogt has already announced his retirement.

Sean Murphy caught a career-high 116 games last season. Shea Langeliers played in 40 games with the A's, 24 at DH and 17 at catcher. Langeriers was the MVP of the Futures Game. The biggest question of this offseason is whether the team should carry two catchers. A’s current pool of DH candidates resembles a drought-stricken Lake Mead. A team with a lot of players who can play both catching and DH is a good idea. It's possible to have one DH player and two catching players. They're both good enough hitters.

The Oakland A's have a lot of catching prospects behind Sean Murphy. Tyler Soderstrom, Kyle McCann, JJ Schwarz and William Simoneit are catching prospect who could play in the big leagues in 2023. Shea Langeliers, who plays in Triple A, is also catching depth.

Soderstrom, McCann, Schwarz and Simoneit are Oakland A's prospects. Soderstom is a catcher who could be ready for the big leagues in 2023. McCann is left-handed and could play with Shea Langeliers and/or Sean Murphy. Simonei is an infielder who plays in the middle of the infield. He is Rule 5-eligible this winter.  Simoneit is also a prospect. His career .418 SLG has left him under the radar. The A’s assistant general manager likened him to Bethancourt. Shelly Langeriers is the current catching prospect, but she's also good at first base.