The A’s could welcome one of their top prospects to the big leagues before the 2022 season is out. General manager David Forst said on the club’s pregame show this evening that he anticipates Triple-A catcher Shea Langeliers will make his MLB debut over the next two months (h/t to Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle). “Shea’s done an outstanding job. … I hope to see him here, get him some (at-bats), some time behind the plate, and see what he can do sometime this season,” Forst said. Langeliers is not yet on the 40-man roster, but he’d have to be added early next offseason to keep him being taken in the Rule 5 draft.
One of four minor leaguers acquired from the Braves in the Matt Olson blockbuster, Langeliers was arguably the headlining piece of the return. The former No. 9 overall pick is a well-regarded defender, and he brings a fair bit of power potential offensively. The 24-year-old has spent the entire season at Triple-A Las Vegas, hitting .281/.362/.513 with 19 home runs across 381 plate appearances. The Pacific Coast League’s extreme hitter-friendly nature has no doubt aided that production, but Langeliers’ strong defense means he’d be a very valuable performer with even adequate production in the batter’s box. Baseball America recently ranked the Baylor product the No. 2 prospect in the Oakland system and the sport’s No. 84 farmhand overall.
Langerliers’ forthcoming arrival coincides with a down cycle for the A’s, who stripped down the roster and payroll over the offseason. They’ve fallen to the bottom of the American League as a result, and there’s been some speculation they could move primary backstop Sean Murphy as part of the organizational overhaul. Murphy, who is controllable through 2025, drew interest before last week’s trade deadline but ultimately remained in the Bay Area. It stands to reason his name will be floated in rumors again this winter.
Some more out of Oakland:
- Right-hander Brent Honeywell Jr. has yet to throw his first pitch as a member of the A’s. Acquired from the Rays last November, Honeywell suffered an olecranon stress reaction in his elbow during Spring Training. He’s spent the entire season on the injured list, but the club isn’t ruling out the possibility he makes a late-season return. Martín Gallegos of MLB.com tweets that Honeywell is likely to throw a simulated game this week. Skipper Mark Kotsay suggested the club hasn’t yet determined whether there’ll be enough time for the 27-year-old to build back as a starting pitcher this season. A former top prospect, Honeywell has only managed 4 1/3 career big league innings because of a brutal series of elbow injuries. He’s out of minor league option years, so he’ll have to stick on the major league roster once he’s healthy or be exposed to waivers.
- The starting rotation is a broad area of uncertainty for the A’s, as Melissa Lockard of the Athletic explores. The trade that sent Frankie Montas to the Bronx subtracted the club’s highest-octane arm and dropped them to three rotation locks: Cole Irvin, Paul Blackburn and James Kaprielian. Among those competing for the final two spots are Zach Logue, Adam Oller, Adrián Martínez and Jared Koenig. All four hurlers have gotten at least five starts on the year, but they’ve each posted an ERA of 4.98 or higher with a well below-average strikeout rate. Lockard suggests that two of the pitchers acquired in the Montas deal — JP Sears and Ken Waldichuk — could factor into the big league rotation down the stretch. Sears started two of seven MLB appearances with the Yankees this season, his first taste of big league action. Waldichuk has yet to make his big league debut and isn’t yet on the 40-man roster, although he’ll have to be added this offseason. Both Sears and Waldichuk have started their organizational tenures in Las Vegas.
Be interesting to see Langeliers and for him to get his first exposure to the majors. His AAA numbers, however, for the PCL and Las Vegas, is nothing great. Murphy slugged over .600 and had an OPS of almost 1.000 there.
Luckily, minor league numbers mean absolutely nothing and are no arbiter at all of future MLB performance!
Its crazy how this wave of people using milb stats to “predict” future players MLB stats, as its asinine and useless overall. You will always be wrong, no players match their minors numbers, its night and day.
That’s quite a ridiculous rant there A’s fan. Should mlb just abolish minor leagues all together ?
Walk rates and power for hitters translate into successful big leaguers.
High K rates and low walk rates for pitchers translate into successful big leaguers.
What doesn’t translate are player rankings.
People have a lot of time on their hands. Despite analytics being, at best, a system of educated guesses, people think they can take it a step further and report a player’s value using a single number (WAR).
My biggest question remains unanswered: Why did Carter Stewart and Scott Boras file a grievance against the Braves in the first place? There’s no way they didn’t know the Braves offered Stewart 40% of slot.
What does that have to do with anything in this article?
The Braves drafted Langeliers with the comp pick they got because Stewart didn’t sign then Stewart and Boras filed a grievance trying to make it so the Braves wouldn’t get a comp pick.
The sad tale of Brent Honeywell. Great talent, great attitude, bad luck. One of my fave (ex) Rays. Really hope he can get healthy.
I feel for the guy. I suffered an olecranon bursitis reaction recently. Elbow blew up to the size of a tennis ball, along with an infection in my forearm. Very painful stuff.
Great attitude? Funny, I heard he was extremely cocky and arrogant with the Rays (before his injuries of course, those might have humbled him).
The screwball is a sexy pitch sure….but it is hard on the arm….
Wishing he returns soon….
Would love to know why Sears in particular is not already in the rotation. He’s one of the best 5 options and on the 40.
Maybe its because of Service time? Could be holding Sears back so that he does not receive Credit for serving one year?
But yes, he appears more than ready for the Show.
All I want is someone else playing 3rd Base besides Vimael Machin. Why a backup 2nd Baseman like him is playing most games at 3rd Base ahead of Pinder, Bride, Neuse and Smith is beyond me. It is one of the few spots in the Lineup where we need to receive some power hitting, and yet we are plaing a Singles hitter. there.
As for the platoon angle ” the pitcher is right-handed so we need to play a Lefty batter at 3rd base ” the point is moot as Macihin is batting under .200. Just stop this experiment already.
I agree, also the A’s this year filling the team out with absolutely useless veterans like Piscotty, Andrus, Lowrie and Vogt are just wasting everyones time. Pretty nonsensical season overall, I guess they thought Kevin Smith would easily take over 3B. Instead they are scraping the bottom of the barrel with Machin, who is clearly AAAA. ANYONE there is better. Why not Pinder there?
The service time thing was part of moneyball, talking about the importance having Zito, Hudson, and Mulder all mature at the same time. I’m kind of surprised that Langeliers is already coming up but it actually isn’t a bad idea to give him a trial run before trading Murphy.
When are all these guys trade eligible so I can start preparing emotionally?.
The bigger question is why do they keep throwing out a bunch of old Vets that will be gone next year if they are rebuilding? Lowrie, Andrus, Piscotty, and Vogt are just a waste of a roster spot with no future.
True, frankly, I don’t give a Rats A$$ about stuffing the Lineup with Left-handed hitters simply because a Right-handed pitcher is throwing against us on that particular day.
I know it is the team’s M.O. and has worked in past years, but this year, it has not mattered, so change up the M.O. the rest of the year and get a look at the kids.
Our left-handed batters need to Earn their playing time. Outside of Seth Brown, the others have not.
Machin is batting .198, Kemp is batting .212, Lowrie is batting .180 and Vogt is batting .158. .If you want to know a Player’s value, check out their Wins Above Replacement stat. These 4 are all in the Negative, meaning they should not be playing as much as they are..
Get Pinder in there at 3rd Base. He played there at Virginia Tech. but If you don’t trust his glove or range, then callup Sheldon Neuse again. Just about any of our other 3rd Base options would provide more thump in the Lineup than Machin.
My #1 A’s managing pet peeve is never understanding that GOOD HITTERS HIT BOTH SIDES.
This happens all the time: They will put a guy in the lineup with a .720 OPS split vs LHP and .500 OPS vs RHP because “he hits lefties well” but then bench a guy who has a .780 OPS vs LHP for that WORSE ops!! Just because he hits righty! ITS SO DUMB!!!
It will all be better come september.
Its maddening how horrible this year is being executed. I thought they were keeping those terrible vets around in case one Matt Carpenter’d himself into some trade value, but, no. All 4 of those guys do absolutely nothing but waste everyones (players+fans) time and block much needed prospect playing time. It will be a great day when they DFA all 4.
Tbf, I see why they’ve kept Kemp around. He was coming off a season where he hit .279/.382/.418 with a .321 wOBA and 127 wRC+. Nothing off the charts, but was average defender at second base and the outfield. I’m kind of shocked they didn’t deal him when they traded both Matt’s. There were definitley teams out there who would want a .280 hitter with a .380 OBP in their leadoff spot.
Probably weren’t offered much for him. If his offense hadn’t tanked we probably could have gotten something for him at the trade deadline as teams are trying to cover injuries and make playoff runs.
Huh. I thought MLB did away with all the legacy minor league names with the re-org, but apparently they brought them back this year. Good to see the PCL and IL are back.
From what I read they had to obtain the rights to using said names again.
Do they want to dump Elvis and his salary?