Turning the page on the calendar
The A’s have officially wrapped up the month of April and it was an overall solid first month for the team. Their record after 31 games stands at stands at a winning record of 16-15. There’s been noticeable growth from young position players like Tyler Soderstrom and Jacob Wilson that have helped the club exceed expectations so far while veterans like Shea Langeliers, Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker have provided stable production alongside their younger teammates.
In the American League the team ranks in the top five in runs scored (5th), batting average (2nd), slugging percentage (2nd), OPS (4th) and home runs (T-3rd). They’ve also been strong at putting the ball in play as the team has struck out just 231 times which is good for third-least in the AL. They’ve been good in the batter’s box but have been slow on the base paths with just ten steals all season, the least in all of baseball.
The pitching has been a bit more hit and miss for the team in the early going. The club has seen a couple young starting pitchers take a step forward as JP Sears and Osvaldo Bido have been among the team’s better starting options along with staff leader Luis Severino. Meanwhile Jeffrey Springs has been a disappointment in his first month in an Athletics uniform and the fifth starters’ spot has been at best a question mark for most of the season. The team’s starting rotation currently ranks 13th out of 15 teams in ERA in the AL and has given up the third-most home runs as well so improvement will be critical.
Even with everything not going their way the team sits at third in the AL West as the month of May begins. It’s better than a lot of outside observers expected but if you’ve followed the team then you probably aren’t surprised by where they are as we turn the calendar. If the A’s want to keep it up and stay in the race they’ll need to figure some things out on the fly.
1. How will the club handle Zack Gelof’s return?
The Athletics got thrown a late curveball during Spring Training when starting second baseman Zack Gelof broke his hamate bone in his right hand. The assumption was that Gelof wouldn’t be an option for at least the first month of the season and likely at least half of May. Hamate bone fractures typically take six to eight weeks to heal so we are just over the six-week mark as of today, meaning the 25-year-old is currently right in line with that recovery timeline. The former 2nd-round pick just started his rehab assignment on Tuesday night going 0-for-2 with a walk as the designated hitter in his first game action since Spring Training. He was having a solid spring but needs to knock some rust off.
When Gelof finally rejoins the team there will need to be some decisions made. First and foremost will be whose roster spot he takes. The first option would be fellow infielder Max Schuemann. He’s played sparingly even with Gelof not on the active roster and his playing time would be further reduced with him back. Or if the club prefers his positional flexibility then it could be time the A’s cut Seth Brown loose. He’s hitting just .179 while playing about the same amount as Schuemann but without the defensive points. The third option could be the team elects to keep both players and sends first base prospect Nick Kurtz back to Triple-A. This option seems the least likely but Kurtz is hitting .250 with no extra-base hits while striking out in half of his plate appearances. Furthermore by pushing Soderstrom to left field he’s essentially taking away at-bats from Miguel Andujar who is second on the team with a .316 batting average.
Then you have current second baseman Luis Urias. He’s started heating up since becoming the primary option at the keystone after Max Muncy was demoted to Triple-A. There’s no question he’ll move back to a bench role upon Gelof’s arrival but will the team still try to get Urias semi-regular at-bats? Are they planning to ease Gelof back in slowly? And where in the lineup will he ultimately settle into? He’ll be back in the next couple of weeks so the team has already started thinking about these things.
2. Who will be the #5 starting pitcher in the rotation moving forward?
The team began the season with right-hander Joey Estes in the starting rotation, giving him the final spot over the likes of Mitch Spence and JT Ginn to open the year. It was a small surprise to some fans and observers but Estes did start 24 games for the Athletics last season so it wasn’t as though there was zero logic to the move. The team evidently knew all along that Spence was likely to begin the year in the bullpen while Ginn wasn’t looking big-league ready during camp.
All plans for the fifth starter’s spot can now be thrown out the window. Estes struggled immensely in two starts, allowing 12 runs in just seven innings of work and getting demoted back to Triple-A. He’s been there ever since and hasn’t really gotten back on track in the lower-pressure environment that is the minor leagues. Ginn replaced Estes and looked promising but is now down for an indefinite time with the ominous-sounding “elbow inflammation” designation. Spence has become a full-time reliever and is increasingly unlikely to return to the starting rotation after being passed over multiple times.
That brings us to where we are now. The club temporarily used left-hander Jacob Lopez for the spot start on Tuesday when the fifth starter’s turn came up but he wasn’t inspiring and the club demoted him to Triple-A the next day. The guy who took his spot on the active roster, right-hander Carlos Duran, just joined the team in the Esteury Ruiz trade with the Dodgers earlier this month but has yet to make his big league debut. He’s also been mostly a reliever with the Aviators after spending his entire career in the minors as a starter. There isn’t much left in the pipeline after that. Former 1st-rounder Gunnar Hoglund is looking solid in Triple-A with a 2.43 ERA in six starts and journeyman Jason Alexander has a 1.59 ERA in three starts for the Aviators. Barring an unforeseen trade the team is going to have to accept that one of those arms is likely about to make quite a few starts for the Athletics before the season is over.
3. Can Noah Murdock turn it around before it’s too late?
When the Athletics selected right-handed pitcher Noah Murdock fourth overall in the 2024 Rule 5 Draft from the Kansas City Royals there was the sense that he was essentially guaranteed a roster spot. As a Rule 5 pick the team would have to roster him for the entire season in order to have his rights long-term and that’s something that the club has done in the past with both success and failure. It’s a free roll of the dice and for a team like the Athletics always searching for wins on the margins and it’s a great opportunity to add talent to the organization essentially for free.
The club has tolerated subpar play from previous Rule 5 picks but Murdock is really testing the team’s patience this year. Through the first month of the year the rookie right-hander has a 14.79 ERA in 14 frames. While six of his 11 outings have been scoreless appearances he’s also had three games where he’s allowed more than five runs. He was especially helpless in his most recent outing when he couldn’t manage to get even one batter out while allowing seven runs to the Rangers, essentially losing the game right then and there. The righty was never known for especially strong control in the minor leagues but it’s gotten worse in the big leagues as he now has more walks than strikeouts.
The one thing Murdock still has going for him is his Rule 5 status. The Athletics drafted him high and saw enough of him in spring to break camp with him in the bullpen. He can’t be sent to Triple-A without being offered back to the Royals but if he continues to struggle like how he has been the club may have no other choice, especially if they hover around .500 and stick around the playoff hunt. The fact he wasn’t designated for assignment after his last appearance indicates the team isn’t quite ready to move on from him but it’s got to be getting there. Hopefully Murdock can turn it around fast before the team decides they just can’t waste the roster spot any longer.