We have endured some mediocre A’s teams in between the fun runs of winning teams. The “Geren Years” of 2007-11 were trying (but was the team?) and 2015-17 not much fun either.
Those squads, though, were very different from the 2025 A’s — who may be one of the more frustrating teams and certainly had the worst 1/5th of a season of any of them — and it’s why I continue to be glued to my TV every day even if it needs to be with a chocolate martini in one hand and a cocktail of Xanax and Zoloft in the other.
The losing teams of yore were not just bad at winning and mediocre at baseball, they also committed the sin of being dull. It’s nothing against washed up veterans and again has-beens like Trevor Plouffe and Orlando Cabrera, but those teams were anchored by players who were never going to be part of the next winning team and they were not exciting to watch.
Fast-forward to 2025 and despite being a hugely disappointing 27-44, to a fan hoping for better days ahead soon the A’s are “must see TV”. The list of players you want to follow and gauge — or just enjoy — is long and only about to get longer.
Center Stage
Jacob Wilson
71 games in, the A’s have a .366 hitter which is insane. The only batters who have regularly hit for that high an average are LH: Wade Boggs, George Brett, Tony Gwynn, Luis Arraez. And yet here is the RH batting Wilson, not just hitting .366 but .367/.402/.517 while playing the premium position of SS and pushing a 7.0 WAR pace as a rookie.
Wilson is on a 217 hit pace even after missing 2 games and he is just a marvel to watch and follow this year. He has become one of those at bats where if I am multi-tasking, watching and preparing a meal, I stop my comings-and-goings and make sure I don’t miss a pitch.
Lawrence Butler
Butler can be frustrating with his streaky hitting and poor fundamentals on defense, but he is a budding star the A’s have actually committed to long term. And for all his ups and downs, in his first full season in the big leagues he is batting .262/.327./450 (119 wRC+) and that’s on the heels of an 0 for 17 stretch that suppressed his numbers (just a week ago he was riding high at .273/.341/.474 for the season).
Butler is that coveted “multi-tool” player. Remarkably — even more remarkable when you consider that his sprint speed is nothing special — in his career he has now attempted 28 stolen bases against a catcher and has been safe 28 times. Any time you have a young player with a shot at stardom and a promising track record, it’s exciting and the A’s have one in Butler.
Denzel Clarke
I don’t know if Denzel will hit, but that key question makes each of his at bats compelling. And I don’t need to say much about his CF defense because the highlight reel speaks for itself.
After 19 big league games, Clarke is already putting up “video game numbers” on defense: +6 DRS, +8 OAA which, over 162 games, would translate to +51 DRS and +68 OAA. He has already made 3 “circus catches,” 2 of them over the wall to bring back HRs, and has become a national media darling of accolades and wonder.
Denzel also brings elite speed, which makes games more electric to watch as a fan. Even in dark seasons, Rajai Davis and Esteury Ruiz provided some of the more watchable moments with their “Rickey runs”. Clarke has that, and there are at least signs of life at the plate with a .275 BA over his last 12 games (ok, with a hat tip to Jonah Bride for his assistance).
Nick Kurtz
How good will Kurtz be? Still unknown, but Driveline’s Kyle Boddy told me in an interview he thought Kurtz was a potential batting champion, which is high praise from a credible source whether it actually comes to pass or not.
Whether he hits .320 or .280, Kurtz profiles as an elite hitter with a keen and discerning eye and big time raw power who can potentially maintain a top notch OBP and SLG and be a key cog in the middle of a contending team’s order. Could the A’s have 2 potential batting champs in the same lineup? It’s not exactly out of the question.
Tyler Soderstrom
Soderstrom isn’t as flashy, but throughout his minor league career scouts and coaches insisted he was going to be a special hitter in the big leagues, and we have seen plenty of flashes of why even at age 23.
Already a .256/.339/.462, 14 HR hitter in less than half a season, perhaps most importantly Soderstrom has a 10.0% BB rate to show he is learning some patience and not so prone to “getting himself out”. His high ceiling as a hitter makes him compelling to follow as a fan.
Max Muncy
It’s still unclear how good Muncy will be, partly because it’s hard to know where he fits on the diamond defensively. But he is another exciting young player to watch and follow because we are seeing big signs of life at the plate and Muncy is still only 22 with just 29 big league games under his belt.
Forget the stats for a moment — the ball comes off Muncy’s bat loud and when he hits the ball he hits it hard, and often far. In this way he is already similar to Shea Langeliers, only Muncy has a MiLB track record of good BB rates and BA and is still at an age where many good prospects are just being drafted.
Over the 8 games since being recalled, Muncy has 3 HRs and is hitting .273, and just his approach and demeanor look vastly different, suggesting he may be able to sustain — and build on — these last 8 games.
Defensively he is a huge question mark at 3B, or at 2B, but that also makes watching the games compelling because it’s not clear that he can’t play there it’s just a significant unknown.
Understudies
And then you have the pitching, which is the future and not the present. Jack Perkins, Luis Morales, and Gage Jump, and behind them Wei-En Lin, have some serious upside and represent the A’s best chance at hopping into real contention soon.
I can’t wait to find out what they can do at the big league level — heck I follow them pretty ardently at AAA, AA, and A.
In Sum
This is not a boring team. Are they frustrating? Absolutely? Were they soul crushing on a daily basis for 3 weeks running? No doubt. It is hugely disappointing to be one month out from a 22-20 record and trending up, and now buried with little hope? Yup.
But each game is its own season and I am on pins and needles to find out how the June 14th, 2025 season goes. Will “fidgety guy” have yet another multi-hit game? Will Denzel defy gravity and all reason to make a play that can’t actually be made? Do we have the makings of the next “murderers row”? Will Butler run hard to 1B and hit a cutoff man the same day? (But I still love you, Law.)
This is not “going through the motions” time as a fan. This is still “must see TV,” at least for this fan.