Who were the fastest, slowest A's in 2024?

Jason Burke | Oct 26, 2024

Sep 24, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers (23) celebrates after hitting a RBI double against the Texas Rangers during the first inning at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images / Neville E. Guard-Imagn Images

By and large, the A's had an above average team in terms of the speed on the field. They also had one of the younger rosters in baseball, ranking fourth in batter's age at 26.5 years old, with only the Cleveland Guardians (26.1), Washington Nationals (26.4) and Milwaukee Brewers (26.4) having slightly younger bats on their rosters. Younger rosters tend to produce more speed.

We thought it would be interesting to take a look at which A's players were among the fastest on the team, as well as who was lagging a little bit behind.

Of course the fastest overall player was Esteury Ruiz, who had an everage sprint speed of 29.4 feet per second this season. He ranked in the 95th percentile for sprint speed across all of Major League Baseball this season, though he only played in 29 games.

Outside of Ruiz, the fastest player on the A's was second baseman Zack Gelof, who averaged 28.7 feet/second, which ranked in the 86th percentile. He also stole 25 bags this year, putting that speed to good use. Among second basemen, Gelof ranked 13th overall, with the Baltimore Orioles holding the first and second fastest players at the position in Jorge Mateo (29.9 ft/sec) and Jackson Holliday (29.4).

The Pittsburgh Pirates also had two second basemen in the top ten with Nick Gonzales coming in at fourth (29.2) and Nick Yorke placing eighth (28.9).

As for the slowest player on the A's, that distinction would go to backup catcher Kyle McCann at 25.3 feet per second, which would also rank No. 53 out of 79 among catchers in the league. Shea Langeliers, the A's everyday catcher, ranked eighth among all backstops at 27.8 feet/second, which ranked in the 61st percentile among all position players in the game.

The slowest player on the A's, non catcher edition, ended up being Tyler Nevin at 26.4 feet per second, which ranked in the 24th percentile. Left fielder Miguel Andujar placed just above him at 26.6 ft/sec, good for the 29th percentile, while first basemen Tyler Soderstrom and Ryan Noda each moved 27 ft/sec, ranking in the 40th percentile.

Finally, Brent Rooker also happened to be one of the fastest players at his position, DH, ranking ninth in MLB with a sprint speed of 27.6, though only three of the players ranked ahead of him had at least 100 competitive runs, meaning they didn't play as much at the position.

The A's are hoping to be more competitive in 2025, working on their skills at the plate and in the field, but having a squad that has a little bit of speed could also help the team be a little more aggressive on the basepaths as well.