A's One of Two Teams to Have Four Players in 20-Homer Club

Jason Burke | Sep 1, 2024

Aug 29, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Oakland Athletics right fielder Lawrence Butler (4) hits the ball during the fourth inning of the MLB game between the Cincinnati Reds and Oakland Athletics, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, at Cintas Center in Cincinnati. Mandatory Credit: Frank Bowen IV/The Cincinnati Enquirer-USA TODAY Sports / The Cincinnati Enquirer-USA TODAY Sports

Sixty players have hit 20 or more home runs across MLB this season as we enter September. The Oakland Athletics have four of those players. That seemed noteworthy, so I decided to do a little research.

Of the 60 members of the 20 home run club, 11 of them have hit exactly 20, including Lawrence Butler and JJ Bleday, who reached the milestone in the past two days. Bleday has been a regular in the A's lineup all season, playing in 133 games as part of a breakout year for the 26-year-old, while Butler, 24, has played in just 102 games.

The other two players on the list for the A's are Brent Rooker (somehow not an All Star) and Shea Langeliers, who have both set new career-highs. Langeliers bopped his 23rd homer of the year on Friday night after hitting 22 last year in his first full season, and Rooker hit 30 a year ago during his own breakout, and currently ranks tied for sixth in MLB with 33 dingers. He is one of 11 players in the 30-homer club.

Unsurprisingly, the Chicago White Sox do not have a member of the 20-homer club, with Andrew Benintendi leading the way for them with 15 bops. The Los Angeles Angels have two players, Jo Adell and Zach Neto, and both have hit exactly 20.

The Cincinnati Reds have a chance of getting four players into the club with Elly De La Cruz (22) and Jeimer Candelario (20) already inside, with Spencer Steer (19) and Tyler Stephenson (18) chatting up the bouncer. Will Benson also has an outside shot of joining, sitting on 14 entering the final month.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, for all of their talent, have two members of the 20-homer club. One of them is pretty obvious since he just joined the 40-40 club last week and had his dog, Decoy, threw out the first pitch at a game earlier this week. That would be Shohei Ohtani. The other isn't Mookie Betts (90 games played) or Freddie Freeman (19)--it's Teoscar Hernández with 28.

In looking through all of the teams, only one club also has four players that have hit 20 home runs, and that is the red-hot Arizona Diamondbacks. MVP candidate Ketel Marte has 30, followed by Christian Walker, who didn't play in August, and his 23. Joc Pederson and Eugenio Suárez both have 21. What's interesting about them is that Corbin Carroll isn't on the list (yet) but he has 19 on the year after hitting 11 in August. He should give the D-Backs a fifth member shortly.

Lourdes Gurriel has 17, and will also be in contention for 20 during the final month of play.

The A's have Zack Gelof as another potential candidate, currently sitting on 16 bombs, with Seth Brown a bit further away with 12.

The interesting part of this is that the Diamondbacks were the NL representative in the World Series last season, and are currently surging in the standings, giving the Dodgers a run for the NL West title. With their starting rotation and the depth of their lineup, they should once again prove to be a fearsome opponent in October.

The A's are showing that they have some of those same characteristics, at least at the dish. Joey Estes has been solid for Oakland over his last seven games (six starts), posting a 2.82 ERA in 38 1/3 innings. Could he take another step in 2025 and be closer to the A's version of Zac Gallen? Osvaldo Bido has had a similarly strong stretch in his last seven starts, posting a 3.11 ERA while holding a 0.98 WHIP. How will he finish out the season?

The A's are building a winning club, and it may be more apparent once the club gets more consistent pitching, as well as putting runs on the board in ways that don't include the long ball as a major source of scoring. Those are the two main factors that the A's front office should be attacking this winter.