A's Offense the Best in July

Jason Burke | Jul 21, 2024

Jul 14, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Oakland Athletics outfielder Lawrence Butler (4) celebrates win against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports / Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

With all this talk about the temperature of the playing surface in Sacramento once turf is installed for the 2025 season, it might be time to start adding another factor to the heat index: The Oakland A's red-hot bats.

In their last three games, Oakland has put up run totals of 18, 13, and 8 against the Phillies and Angels. They also tossed in a 19-run performance against the Baltimore Orioles on July 6. The bats are on fire, and have led the A's to the best offense in baseball in the month of July. Their 147 wRC+ is tops in MLB, while they have also put up 105 runs in 14 games. They are the only club to crack 100 runs, and one of just two clubs, along with the 96-run Arizona Diamondbacks, to top 90 this month.

Leading the offense is All Star snub Brent Rooker, who is 23-for-48 (.479) this month with seven homers, three doubles, and 18 RBI. His 1.529 OPS is understandably the best in baseball this month, and his 297 wRC+ ranks second to Colorado's Brenton Doyle (309). The A's will have a big decision on their hands in the coming weeks when it comes to whether or not to trade him.

Right alongside Rooker on the leaderboards is 24-year-old Lawrence Butler, who is 18-for-49 (.367) this month, tied with Rooker for third in home runs in July with seven of his own, and leads the game with 22 RBI in 14 games played.

After his three-homer game on the Sunday before the break, and a solid 2-for-4 performance on Friday that included a triple, one walk and two RBI, we asked Butler what he did to stay locked in at the plate over the break. He said the key for him was to play College Football 25 non-stop the entire time. He's been having fun picking quarterbacks from random schools and seeing if he can take them all the way to the National Championship.

Butler is fifth in wRC+ with a 245, right behind Trea Turner and Bobby Witt Jr., and right in front of Julio Rodríguez.

Right below J-Rod is the surprise of the A's offense, Max Schuemann, who has a 223 wRC+ this month. Schuemann's second half started with a phone call from A's manager Mark Kotsay to discuss his new role with the team was calling up top prospect Jacob WIlson, who would become the A's starting shortstop. Schuemann had held the position, in part due to injuries, and had done an admirable job holding it down.

The conversation went well, and Kotsay told him that he still wanted him in the lineup regularly. Schuemann is arguably more valuable to the club when he can move around the diamond, giving other guys a day off while he continues to shine both offensively and defensively anywhere he's placed.

He is batting .395 with a .500 OBP in just his fourth month in the big leagues, and is doing most of that while batting ninth in the lineup and acting as a table setter for the top of the order, which has happened to include Butler in the leadoff spot the past four games. The A's are averaging 11 runs per game with this tandem doing work over that stretch.

Having three of the top seven bats in baseball over any period is a pretty good way to score runs, as the A's are showing with some huge outbursts this month. For a season that has had its ups and downs, getting some of their younger bats going would be a huge positive as the A's continue to build for the future.