Oakland A's Offense Among the Best in May
The Oakland A's offense, as a whole, has been league average this season. That doesn't sound like something that most teams would write home about, but for a team that lost 112 games a year ago, this is a huge improvement over the bottom-five offense they had last season. What's more impressive is that the group is doing this without much production from Zack Gelof, last year's breakout star.
Gelof is batting .185 with a .257 on-base, three homers, four stolen bases, a 34.2% strikeout rate, and a 63 wRC+ (100 is league average). Looking at his zone page on Baseball Savant, it looks as though he's not controlling the strike zone well enough, which is leading to his high K rate. Pitchers are attacking the four corners of the zone, and then expanding outside of the zone on him too, and this has led to the results we've seen so far this season. He's also not barelling balls up at the same clip that he was a year ago (5.9% to 11.1%), which certainly isn't helping.
Still, the offense as a whole has a wRC+ of 99 on the season, which ranks 17th in MLB. The team ranks third in home runs with 68, which is how a good portion of their runs cross the plate, but with the addition of MIguel Andujar to the lineup over the weekend, we'll see if that can change.
While the offense has been good on the season, they rank fourth overall with a 114 wRC+ in May, trailing just the Yankees, Phillies, and Astros. Brent Rooker is leading the charge with a 203 wRC+, and has proven that he can hit for average in the process, batting .349 with six homers and 21 RBI. Not too far behind him is Shea Langeliers, the player that the A's clubhouse picked to break out this season. The A's catcher has a 168 wRC+ and is batting .265 with a .351 OBP and five homers.
Then you have another breakout candidate, JJ Bleday, who has slugged five homers of his own while walking nearly 12% of the time and holding a 142 wRC+. Abraham Toro rounds out the list of regulars that are surging with his .302 average and a 128 wRC+.
That's just the regular guys that are all crushing the ball right now, but you also have Max Schuemann, who was thrust into playing shortstop every day since he's the only guy currently available to do so on the 26-man roster, and he's hitting .300 with a .380 in 22 games, good for a 143 wRC+. Seth Brown is also getting in on the action, posting 100 wRC+, which is exactly league average, adding three home runs and hitting .241 with a .268 OBP.
One spot that has been below average has been first base, a position, like second, that seemed taken care of heading into this season. Ryan Noda struggled over the first month and is currently in Triple-A Las Vegas finding his swing, so the A's are currently rocking with J.D. Davis (82 wRC+) and Tyler Soderstrom (98) for the time being. Soderstrom has shown some improvements at the plate, but he's still striking out 41.9% of the time.
Of course we also have to mention Kyle McCann, Shea's backup, who has been earning more opportunities at the plate due to his production. He's walking at a 13.3% clip this month, batting .333 with a .422 on-base, and holds a 163 wRC+.
The A's offense isn't necessarily "stacked" like the Yankees with players like Aaron Judge, but a rebuilding club with a slew of league average bats or better is always a good sign. The next level for this club will be finding more ways to score consistently other than the long ball.
JASON BURKE
Jason is the host of the Locked on A's podcast, and the managing editor of Inside the A's. He's a new father and can't wait to take his son to his first baseball game at the Coliseum.