J.J. Bleday

Athletics Select Colby Thomas

By Steve Adams | June 30, 2025 at 1:17pm CDT

The Athletics announced a series of roster moves Monday, notably selecting the contract of well-regarded outfield prospect Colby Thomas from Triple-A Las Vegas. The A’s also reinstated Shea Langeliers from the 10-day injured list, recalled reliever Justin Sterner from Vegas and optioned outfielder JJ Bleday, righty Tyler Ferguson and catcher Willie MacIver to Triple-A.

Thomas, 24, was the Athletics’ third-round pick in 2022. He’s steadily climbed the minor league ranks and currently sports a .297/.365/.542 slash with Las Vegas, although given the extraordinarily hitter-friendly setting, that’s only about 11% better than league average (111 wRC+) when adjusted for home park and league run-scoring environment. Thomas’ 26.3% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate and massive pop-up rate — a staggering 28% of his fly-balls are infield flies — aren’t ideal, but he’s also hitting plenty of line drives.

Baseball America and MLB.com both list Thomas among the system’s top-five prospects, whereas FanGraphs had Thomas way down at 27th in the system citing concerns over his hit tool and overaggressive approach at the plate. Both BA and MLB raise those flaws as well, but Thomas’ raw tools — above-average to plus grades on his power, speed, outfield defense and arm strength — lead to a more favorable overall rating at both outlets, questions in the batter’s box notwithstanding.

Thomas joins an outfield mix that includes Lawrence Butler in right field, defensive standout Denzel Clarke in center and slugger Tyler Soderstrom in left. Designated hitter Brent Rooker can cycle into the corners as well but has just 202 innings on defense dating back to Opening Day 2024. Thomas’ right-handed bat could serve as a complement to the lefty-swinging Soderstrom, who’s batting just .205/.235/.269 against lefties this year (81 plate appearances) but .268/.367/.485 versus righties.

Langeliers returns after missing nearly four weeks with an oblique strain. He batted .237/.300/.430 with 10 homers in 230 plate appearances prior to the injury, continuing his trend of providing low average/OBP marks with above-average pop.

Ferguson was solid for the A’s in 2024 but has seen his velocity, strikeout rate, swinging-strike rate, walk rate and home run rate all trend in the wrong direction in 2025. He’s currently sitting on a 6.69 ERA in 35 innings.

Last year, Bleday looked to have broken out as a quality hitter and potential core piece with the A’s. His glovework in center field was brutal, but Bleday slashed .243/.324/.437 with 20 homers in 642 plate appearances. He’s drawing tons of walks with slightly above-average power again in 2025, but Bleday’s contact rate, strikeout rate and infield fly rate have all trended the wrong way in ’25. This is now the second time he’s been optioned, and went just 5-for-37 between minor league stints before being sent back down. There’s still room for him to bounce back and reclaim a spot in the Athletics’ long-term plans, but right now his stock is down considerably relative to 2024.

A’s Place Gunnar Hoglund On IL, Recall JJ Bleday

By Anthony Franco | June 2, 2025 at 8:57pm CDT

The Athletics announced a handful of moves before tonight’s series opener against the Twins. Rookie starter Gunnar Hoglund is headed to the 15-day injured list, retroactive to June 1, with a left hip impingement. They also lost third baseman/outfielder Miguel Andujar to the 10-day IL with a right oblique strain. Outfielder JJ Bleday and reliever Elvis Alvarado are up from Triple-A Las Vegas in corresponding moves. Martín Gallegos of MLB.com reported the Bleday recall before the club announcement.

Hoglund has held a rotation spot since being called up on May 2. The former first-round pick looked good over his first two starts, combining for 11 1/3 innings of three-run ball. He has been hit hard in each of the four appearances since then. Hoglund has allowed multiple home runs in three of them, including four longballs over six innings at the Rogers Centre on Saturday. He carries a 6.40 ERA across 32 1/3 innings.

The A’s will need to figure out a solution to round out the rotation behind Luis Severino, JP Sears, Jeffrey Springs and Jacob Lopez. The team’s hopes of competing for a playoff spot have crumbled because of the pitching staff. MLB’s worst bullpen certainly bears some responsibility, but the rotation has also been untenable of late. Only the Rockies had a higher rotation ERA than the A’s 6.24 mark in May.

Bleday returns to the MLB outfield less than two weeks after being optioned. Rookie Denzel Clarke jumped him as the starting center fielder, as he brings a significantly higher defensive floor. Bleday could push for left field reps. Drew Avans remains in left field tonight against Minnesota righty Joe Ryan. Avans only has 11 career plate appearances, but this is his fourth start in the past six games. Bleday hit .370 over six Triple-A games to get back onto the MLB roster.

Athletics Designate Seth Brown For Assignment, Option JJ Bleday

By Darragh McDonald | May 23, 2025 at 4:35pm CDT

The Athletics announced a huge batch of roster moves today. They selected the contracts of catcher Willie MacIver and infielder Logan Davidson. They also recalled left-hander Jacob Lopez, infielder CJ Alexander and outfielder Denzel Clarke. Infielder Gio Urshela was placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained left hamstring, opening one spot. They opened three more by optioning right-hander Carlos Durán, catcher Jhonny Pereda and outfielder JJ Bleday to Triple-A Las Vegas. They opened a fifth active roster spot by designating infielder/outfielder Seth Brown for assignment. That also opened one 40-man spot for MacIver/Davidson. A second was opened by transferring infielder Zack Gelof to the 60-day IL.

The Clarke, Urshela and Davidson moves had been previously reported. Jeff Passan of ESPN reported the Clarke promotion last night and hinted that more moves could be coming, with the A’s looking to shake things up and snap a nine-game losing streak. That has certainly come to pass.

Brown, 32, has been a productive player for the A’s before but has fallen off. He hit 45 home runs between the 2021 and 2022 campaigns, slashing .224/.294/.457 for a 111 wRC+. However, he has a line of .224/.286/.385 and a wRC+ of 90 since then. That includes a .192/.311/.288 line and 79 wRC+ this year.

He was outrighted off the roster last summer but earned his way back to the big leagues. He played well enough in the second half that the A’s tendered him an arbitration contract for 2025 and the two sides avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $2.7MM salary.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Brown is not quite in a position to both elect free agency and keep that money coming to him. Players with at least three years of big league service have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, but players with less than five years have to forfeit their remaining salary in order to do so. Brown came into this year with four years and 96 days of service time, putting him 76 days shy of the five-year mark. 57 days have passed in the 2025 season so far. Based on his performance, he probably won’t get claimed off waivers. More likely, he will clear and accept an outright assignment, allowing the A’s to keep him around as non-roster depth.

Bleday, 27, seemed to be having a breakout last year. The former top prospect hit 20 home runs and slashed .243/.324/.437 on the year for a 120 wRC+. Defensively, he was miscast as a center fielder but the offensive performance was certainly encouraging. Unfortunately, he is slashing .204/.291/.365 for an 86 wRC+ so far this year.

It’s possible there’s some luck in there. His batting average on balls in play was .279 last year but is down to .231 here in 2025. His barrel rate is down but his average exit velocity and hard hit rate are actually higher than last year. His strikeout rate has ticked up a bit but he’s also been walking more.

Regardless, the A’s are seemingly going to try Clarke in center for a while. Bleday can try to get into a groove in the Pacific Coast League and perhaps return to the big leagues after a bit of a refresher. He came into this season with his service count at 2.055. If he stays down the rest of the year, he won’t get to the three-year mark in 2025, delaying his path to free agency. But if he’s recalled in the not-too-distant future, he’ll still have a shot to get there.

Amid the rest of the shuffle, MacIver gets called to the big leagues for the first time. The A’s have Shea Langeliers as their primary catcher but Pereda has been backing him up lately. With today’s swap, it seems MacIver will get a shot at holding that backup job.

The 28-year-old MacIver was drafted by the Rockies way back in 2018, in the ninth round, and has been grinding in the minors since then. He reached free agency after 2024 and signed a minor league deal with the A’s coming into 2025. He has put up a monster .389/.469/.548 line in 147 Triple-A plate appearances this year. His .480 BABIP is surely not sustainable but his 12.2% walk rate and 18.4% strikeout rate are both good figures.

As for Gelof, he began the season on the 10-day IL due to hamate surgery. He started a rehab assignment at the end of April but that lasted just three games before he was pulled off due to a stress reaction in his ribs. He hasn’t started a new rehab assignment yet. His 60-day count is retroactive to his initial IL placement, so is technically eligible for reinstatement a few days from now. However, that doesn’t seem likely, as he’ll surely need a few weeks of minor league games at some point to get into game shape.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

A’s To Promote Denzel Clarke

By Anthony Franco | May 22, 2025 at 11:37pm CDT

The A’s are promoting Denzel Clarke from Triple-A Las Vegas, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. It’s the first major league call for the outfield prospect, who was added to the 40-man roster last November. A’s manager Mark Kotsay said this afternoon that infielder Gio Urshela was headed to the 10-day injured list with a left hamstring strain (relayed by Martín Gallegos of MLB.com).

While that could be a simple one-for-one swap, it’s possible there will be a broader set of moves tomorrow. Passan suggests the A’s could make multiple changes to the roster after losing their ninth consecutive game today. They’re the first team in MLB to drop nine in a row this season, and things won’t get any easier this weekend. The A’s host the Phillies — winners of seven straight and holding the NL’s best record at 32-20 — beginning tomorrow.

Clarke, 25, is from Toronto but played his college ball at Cal State Northridge. The A’s selected him in the fourth round of the 2021 draft, taking a flier on his immense physical tools despite concerns about his pure hitting ability. Clarke is listed at 6’4″ and 220 pounds. He draws praise for his raw power from the right side. Perhaps more surprising is his excellent athleticism despite that size. Offseason reports at both Baseball America and FanGraphs credited Clarke with plus-plus speed and projected him as an elite defender in center field.

It’s an obviously intriguing toolset, but the concerns are equally apparent from Clarke’s minor league numbers. Like many hitters of his size, he struggles to make contact. Clarke has struck out in 30% of his plate appearances during his five-season professional career. To his credit, he has dramatically improved in that regard this season. Clarke is fanning at a manageable 21.8% clip while drawing walks at a massive 17.3% rate this year with Las Vegas. He owns a .286/.436/.419 batting line.

However, the lower strikeout rate has come with a dramatic spike in ground balls. He’s putting the ball on the ground nearly 70% of the time he makes contact. Clarke has the speed to turn a lot of those into hits, but that’s an obvious cap on his power production. He hasn’t hit a home run in 133 plate appearances in Triple-A. He’s obviously much stronger than that would suggest, evidenced by his three consecutive double-digit homer seasons in the lower levels between 2022-24.

It’s unlikely the A’s would bring Clarke up for sporadic playing time. He might push JJ Bleday out of the starting center field role. Clarke should immediately provide a big defensive upgrade over Bleday, a natural corner outfielder who has graded as one of the sport’s worst defensive center fielders over the past two seasons.

The A’s were willing to live with that when Bleday was producing offensively last season, as he hit 20 homers with a .243/.324/.437 slash. He’s not producing on either side of the ball this year, as his offense has slumped to a .204/.291/.365 showing. He’s hitting .175 with a .254 on-base percentage this month and has fallen to eighth or ninth in the lineup after starting the season as the #3 hitter.

Urshela signed a one-year deal over the winter to compete for the starting third base job. Luis Urías has outplayed him to take that position, leaving Urshela as a semi-regular depth infielder. He’s hitting .219 without a home run in 31 games. Max Schuemann is already on hand as a utility piece, so the A’s don’t need to directly replace Urshela with another infielder.

The A’s Position Player Core Is Emerging

By Anthony Franco | September 4, 2024 at 5:00pm CDT

The A's have quietly been one of the better teams in the American League for the past two months. As USA Today's Bob Nightengale observed last night (on X), only the Astros have a better record among AL clubs since the start of July. Oakland was above .500 in both July and August; last night's walk-off win over Seattle has pushed them to 31-22 since July began. They've outscored opponents by 37 runs in that time.

Their second-half success doesn't have much impact this year. The A's had a dreadful first half that ensures they're headed to a third straight losing season. They'll probably avoid a third last-place finish in as many years, but they're not likely to finish higher than fourth in the AL West. Even with 90 losses still in play, the past few months offer a glimpse at a better future for A's fans who'll stick with the team in Sacramento and Las Vegas. That's particularly true in the lineup, where a controllable core is beginning to take shape.

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A’s Reluctant To Trade Brent Rooker

By Anthony Franco | July 27, 2024 at 3:26pm CDT

Brent Rooker has been one of the best hitters in the league over the past two seasons. He hit 30 home runs in an All-Star campaign a year ago. He has been even better this year despite being left out of the Midsummer Classic, clubbing 25 homers with a .288/.365/.583 slash across 378 plate appearances.

If he’s available, Rooker would be arguably the best offensive player on the market. It’s not clear that another team will be able to pry him from Oakland. Jeff Passan of ESPN wrote yesterday that the A’s were leaning towards holding their breakout slugger. The New York Post’s Jon Heyman hears similarly, tweeting this morning that the A’s are informing other teams they’re reluctant to part with Rooker or center fielder JJ Bleday.

As MLBTR explored in more detail in a post for Front Office subscribers this week, whether to trade Rooker is the biggest decision the A’s are facing. There’s a case for moving him. The A’s are at least another season away from postseason contention. This summer’s market looks like it’ll be light on impact bats. Rooker didn’t break through as a regular until after his 28th birthday. He turns 30 in November and is probably amidst the best season of his career.

At the same time, the A’s aren’t facing contractual pressure to make a deal. Rooker is playing for marginally more than the league minimum salary. He’ll qualify for arbitration next offseason and is under team control through 2027. His power-oriented skillset is the kind that pays well over time in arbitration, but his first-year salary will be eminently affordable. The A’s don’t have a single guaranteed contract on their 2025 payroll ledger. Even with ownership imposing huge limitations, they’ll be able to accommodate a salary in the $4-6MM range for Rooker without issue.

Bleday, 26, always seemed like more of a long shot trade candidate. Oakland acquired the lefty-hitting outfielder from the Marlins going into 2023 in a one-for-one swap for A.J. Puk. That deal looked skewed in Miami’s favor during the first season but has been more balanced this year. Bleday, a former sixth overall pick out of Vanderbilt, has stepped up as the A’s primary center fielder. He’s hitting .233/.314/.430 with 12 homers across 422 plate appearances.

The A’s control Bleday for four seasons beyond this one. He won’t be eligible for arbitration until the 2026 campaign. He now looks like a potential regular (or at least a strong side platoon bat) whom the A’s have no urgency to move.

Oakland general manager David Forst said earlier this week that the team wasn’t looking to deal all their players of note. “We may do some things, but anyone who expects we’re going to continue to just move guys for prospects will probably be disappointed because there’s guys here we think are part of the team beyond this year,” Forst told Martín Gallegos of MLB.com on Monday (X link). Fost didn’t specify names but was surely referring to players like Rooker, Bleday and closer Mason Miller — who went on the injured list this week and is very unlikely to move. While those comments could include some amount of gamesmanship — it wouldn’t serve the front office well to exaggerate their urgency to subtract — it seems they’re projecting a similar message in conversations with teams.

If the A’s hold Rooker and Bleday, they’d likely be in for a quiet deadline. Setup man Lucas Erceg should draw interest. They could move rental lefty relievers Scott Alexander and T.J. McFarland for minimal returns. Miguel Andujar is hitting reasonably well and may be on the radar for teams looking for a right-handed bench bat, while back-end starters Ross Stripling and Paul Blackburn just returned from the injured list and could get a few calls.

Athletics’ JJ Bleday Diagnosed With ACL Sprain

By Steve Adams | August 16, 2023 at 10:42am CDT

The A’s placed outfielder JJ Bleday on the 10-day injured list with a left knee sprain last night, and manager Mark Kotsay further specified to reporters that an MRI revealed a sprain in Bleday’s anterior cruciate ligament (Twitter link via Martin Gallegos of MLB.com). A return this season is not certain.

On the one hand, the fact that Bleday isn’t headed straight for surgery, as is common with ACL injuries, is a relative silver lining. Any sprain involves some degree of stretching and/or tearing in the ligament, by definition. In that sense, it’s perhaps fortunate that Bleday escaped a more dire injury. On the other hand, even a lower-grade sprain that can be treated without resorting to surgery is still an injury of note, as evidenced by the team’s uncertainty about a return in the next six-plus weeks.

Bleday, 25, was the fourth overall pick in the 2019 draft, going to the Marlins after a strong college career at Vanderbilt. The A’s acquired him in an offseason swap of former top-10 picks that had yet to fully live up to their draft and prospect pedigree, sending lefty A.J. Puk to Miami in return. Bleday came to Oakland with six full years of team control remaining, whereas Puk already had two years of MLB service and was on the cusp of reaching arbitration.

A consensus top-10 talent in that year’s draft class — ranking within the top five on multiple pre-draft rankings — Bleday demolished NCAA pitching with a .347/.465/.701 batting line and 27 home runs in 347 plate appearances during his final season with the Commodores. Outside of a 2021 stint in the Arizona Fall League, however, he’d never come close to that type of production in the professional ranks. Bleday hit .257/.311/.379 in High-A following the draft, didn’t play in 2020 due to the canceled minor league season, and posted a .212/.323/.373 slash in Double-A back in 2021.

Bleday began drawing walks at a massive 16.3% clip and showing off his plus raw power with Miami’s Triple-A affiliate in 2022, but he did so while hitting .228 with a concerning 27% strikeout rate. Last season’s big league debut saw him post just a .167/.277/.309 slash, and the Marlins flipped him to Oakland in hopes of strengthening their bullpen.

Bleday’s first season with the A’s has been a bit more encouraging than his rocky debut with the Fish. This year’s .316/.429/.643 line in 119 Triple-A plate appearances is easily his best minor league production to date, and he more importantly dropped his Triple-A strikeout rate from 27% all the way down to 12.6%. The improved approach carried over to the Majors, to an extent. Bleday lopped five percentage points off his big league strikeout rate (23.2%) while narrowly improving his walk rate from 12.6% to 13.4%. He also upped his power output, his average exit velocity and his hard-hit rate. That said, his .203/.313/.373 slash still falls well shy of what the A’s had hoped to acquire when trading for him.

Even though he hasn’t exactly established himself as a clear big leaguer yet, Bleday should have ample opportunity to do so in 2024. Oakland already parted ways with Ramon Laureano, designating him for assignment and watching Cleveland claim him on waivers. Tony Kemp has logged the most time of any A’s player in left field this year, but he’ll be a free agent at season’s end. Seth Brown has seen plenty of action between both outfield corners, but he’ll be a trade or non-tender candidate in the offseason after an ugly first half — he’s hitting well since the All-Star break — and with an arbitration raise looming. Brent Rooker has faded since his hot start to the season (.200/.272/349 since mid-May) and has spent more time at DH than in the outfield corners this year anyhow.

Given Bleday’s Triple-A performance this season and the improvements in his approach at the plate and power production, it stands to reason that he’ll be in the mix for a corner outfield job next spring. He’ll also have two minor league option years remaining beyond the current campaign, so the A’s can easily get him more work in Triple-A if he doesn’t grab a starting job out of the gate next year.

Athletics Recall JJ Bleday

By Darragh McDonald | May 3, 2023 at 5:26pm CDT

The Athletics announced today that outfielder JJ Bleday has been recalled from Triple-A Las Vegas, with fellow outfielder Conner Capel optioned to Vegas in a corresponding move. Bleday is in tonight’s lineup, batting fifth and playing left field.

This will be the first appearance as an Athletic for Bleday, who came over from the Marlins this winter in a one-for-one trade with A.J. Puk going the other way. The fourth overall selection of the 2019 draft, Bleday has been considered one of the top prospects in the league but has had an inconsistent professional career thus far. He struggled in Double-A in 2021 but hit well enough in Triple-A last year to get a 65-game audition in the big leagues. He walked in 12.6% of his plate appearances in the majors but also struck out 28.2% of the time and slashed .167/.277/.309 for a wRC+ of 72.

The Marlins decided to move on from him and flipped him for Puk, but Bleday is making some noise so far this year. In 119 plate appearances in Triple-A, he’s walked more than he’s struck out, a 16.8% rate of free passes compared to just a 12.6% clip for the punchouts. His .316/.429/.643 batting line needs to be taken with a grain of salt because he’s playing in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, but it’s still 50% above league average, as shown by his 150 wRC+.

Bleday will now see if he can fare better against major league pitchers this year than he did last year. If he’s able to play well enough to stick around, it could have ramifications on the business side of things. Bleday earned 75 days of service time with the Marlins last year, meaning he’s 97 shy of the 172 that are required to get to the one-year mark. With about five months left in the season, there’s still a chance for him to get over the line and be on track for arbitration after 2025 and free agency after 2028. However, future optional assignments could push those targets back.

If Bleday does hit the ground running and emerge as a key piece for the A’s, it doesn’t currently seem like the Marlins will have too much regret. Puk has been absolutely lights out so far this year, posting a 0.75 ERA through 12 innings pitched, striking out 27.1% of batters faced while walking just 4.2%. That performance seems to have vaulted him into the closer’s seat, as he’s racked up five saves on the year so far.

Turning back to Bleday, he’ll jump into the outfield mix in Oakland next to some other players looking to prove themselves. Rookie Esteury Ruiz is getting most of the playing time in center while Ramón Laureano is the regular in right, looking to get back into a groove after his PED suspension and shaky return last year. Brent Rooker is also in the mix, having a tremendous season at the plate thus far, but has been frequently in the designated hitter slot of late.

AL West Notes: Athletics, Bleday, Munoz, Trammell, deGrom, Eovaldi, Schroeder

By Mark Polishuk | March 12, 2023 at 10:05pm CDT

The Athletics announced several cuts to their Spring Training roster today, and outfielder JJ Bleday was one of the players optioned to Triple-A. Bleday had been competing with Cristian Pache and Esteury Ruiz for the center field job, and manager Mark Kotsay told reporters (including The San Francisco Chronicle’s Matt Kawahara) that “it’s not an easy decision” in picking between the trio since the A’s eventually want to see what all of them can do at the big league level. All of Pache, Ruiz, and Bleday will “impact this club at some point” in 2023, Kotsay said, but in determining the Opening Day roster “there’s going to be factors that go into it…not just performance but roster construction, depth at the position.”

Kotsay also noted that Pache might have an advantage since he is out of minor league options, whereas Ruiz and Bleday both have options remaining. Bleday and Ruiz each joined the A’s this offseason, as Bleday was acquired from the Marlins for A.J. Puk last month, and Ruiz came to Oakland as part of the big three-team, nine-player swap with the Brewers and Braves that saw Sean Murphy land in Atlanta. Pache, meanwhile, was part of last March’s blockbuster deal with Atlanta, as Pache was one of four players the A’s acquired in exchange for Matt Olson. Earlier this month, MLBTR’s Steve Adams wrote about the many outfielders vying for playing time for Oakland this season, beyond just the center field situation.

The Athletics’ Outfield Dilemma

By Steve Adams | March 2, 2023 at 1:44pm CDT

In late January, I took a look at some of the Athletics’ options in what’s a generally crowded mix of rotation possibilities. Calling it a true logjam or crunch might overstate things a bit, as those monikers are typically more appropriate when there are more established players than there are spots to go around. For the A’s, it was more a matter how they can divide up the innings among a wide variety of unproven names.

Similar questions persist in the outfield, where Oakland has one lock for playing time and otherwise a carousel of names who could rotate through the remaining spots. Ramon Laureano is a fixture in the outfield and will continue to be through much of the season’s first half, at least (health-permitting). Laureano can play all three spots but has been better in right field than in center recently. He’s coming off a disappointing .211/.287/.376 batting line in 2022, but from 2018-21 he slashed .263/.335/.465 while playing quality defense.

Were it not for injuries and an 80-game PED suspension derailing Laureano’s trajectory, he might already have been traded by now. The A’s have gutted the rest of the roster while embarking on their latest rebuild, but Laureano is one of the few remaining veterans. Trading him this offseason would’ve been selling low, but it’d only take a couple months of productive ball to restore some of the 2018-21 shine. With a good showing in April, May and June, expect Laureano to be among the more talked-about trade candidates on the summer market.

Because of that, he should be penciled in for full-time at-bats in the outfield. It seems likely that’ll come more in the corners than in center, but whatever form it takes, Laureano’s going to be out there every day.

As far as the rest of the outfield is concerned, things are far murkier. Let’s take a look at who’ll be vying for playing time…

On the 40-man roster

Cristian Pache, 24, RHH, no minor league options remaining

Pache’s lack of minor league options and lack of production in either Triple-A or the Majors make him the most confounding player of this group. He’s still just 24 years old, is considered to be an elite defender, and as recently as the 2020-21 offseason was considered to be among the 20 best prospects in all of baseball. Pache’s bat simply hasn’t developed, however, evidenced by a disastrous .156/.205/.254 batting line in 332 MLB plate appearances and an ugly .248/.298/.389 showing in Triple-A last season. Pache posted five Defensive Runs Saved and eight Outs Above Average in only 646 innings last year. He’s one of the best defensive players in the game but currently one of its worst hitters. The A’s can’t send him down without exposing him to waivers, and the glove alone would probably get Pache claimed. At the same time, it’s hard to keep trotting him out there with such an anemic batting line. Giving up on Pache as an everyday player and relegating him to a bench role is also unpalatable, though, given his youth and the fact that he was one of the key pieces in the trade that sent Matt Olson to the Braves. The A’s have to hope Pache can somehow develop his offensive approach at the big league level, and if he can’t, he could eventually force them into a tough decision. A big spring could also position him as a trade candidate; manager Mark Kotsay candidly admitted last month that Pache could be “showcasing himself for 29 other teams.”

Esteury Ruiz, 24, RHH, two minor league options remaining

The Pache dilemma is exacerbated by the fact that the A’s acquired another potential center fielder in this offseason’s Sean Murphy trade. The 24-year-old Ruiz stole a whopping 86 bases in 2022 and is considered among the fastest players in the sport. Like Pache, he has the potential for plus range in center, though scouting reports are far more bullish on Pache’s instincts and overall defensive prowess. There are some similar red flags with Ruiz’s game, though his minor league numbers are a sight to behold. He hit .332/.447/.526 in 541 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A last season, but Ruiz also posted bottom-of-the-scale exit velocity and hard contact numbers. His lack of hard contact can be somewhat erased by what’ll surely be plenty of infield hits, but there are questions about how impactful his bat and glove can be at the game’s top level. He’s ready for a look right now, but playing time will depend on how the A’s view Pache and, quite likely, their other offseason outfield acquisition. Speaking of which…

JJ Bleday, 25, LHH, three minor league options remaining

Acquired in a straight-up swap for reliever A.J. Puk, Bleday is a former No. 4 overall draft pick whose prospect star has dimmed in recent years as he’s struggled throughout the minors. The Marlins have spent several years in search of an everyday center fielder and still don’t have one, yet they were content to trade Bleday for a controllable bullpen piece. Scouting reports on Bleday peg him as more of a left fielder, and clearly the Marlins agree, or else they wouldn’t have moved on. Bleday has above-average raw power, but he strikes out and pops up too often in trying to get to it in a game setting. He’s a career .225/.337/.409 hitter in the minors, and his strikeout rate has risen at every level, topping out at 27% in Triple-A last year and 28.2% in his 238-plate appearance MLB debut. Bleday took 605 PAs between Triple-A and the Majors last season and, in addition to 166 strikeouts, he popped up a staggering 33 times. That’s an automatic out in nearly one-third of his plate appearances. The A’s can offer some new coaching perspective, so perhaps they can unlock something in Bleday that the Marlins couldn’t, but so far the results on Bleday haven’t come close to aligning with his draft status.

Seth Brown, 30, LHH, two minor league options remaining

Because Brown has spent so much time at first base and in right field (688 innings apiece), it may be a surprise to many that he’s also logged 141 innings in center. He’s not a great option there, but Brown can handle the spot in a pinch and can cycle through all three outfield spots, first base and designated hitter. He’ll have free-agent signee Jesus Aguilar and Oakland’s Rule 5 pick Ryan Noda (more on him in a bit) competing for time at those positions, however, so Brown could see a fair bit of outfield work. The 30-year-old Brown smashed 25 home runs last year and stands as one of the team’s primary power threats. Virtually all of his MLB production has come against righties, which leads to some easy platoon maneuverings. Brown will be arbitration-eligible next winter, and if he continues bashing righties in the first half, he’ll join Laureano on the trade market.

Tony Kemp, 31, LHH, cannot be optioned without his consent (five-plus years of service time)

One of the team’s elder statesmen at just 31 years of age, Kemp is another likely summer trade candidate. He’s spent more time at second base than in left field over the past few seasons, but he’s played both with a fair degree of regularity. Oakland’s signing of Aledmys Diaz could cut into his time at second base, though. Kemp, like Brown, is a better hitter against righties, though the split isn’t as glaring in his case. He should be out there regularly to begin the season, but the presence of Diaz and looming prospect Zack Gelof feels like it’ll eventually lead to a trade, so long as Kemp is playing reasonably well.

Aledmys Diaz, 32, RHH, cannot be optioned

The A’s needed to spend some money this offseason, and luring free-agent bats to a last-place club in a cavernous home park can’t be easy. They paid up on a pair of multi-year deals for versatile infield/outfield veterans Diaz and Jace Peterson (the former of whom seems ticketed for regular work at third base). Diaz can act as a left-handed complement to Kemp at second base, mix in at all four infield slots and will probably also see occasional time in left field and at designated hitter. He’s making more than $7MM this season, which is a sizable sum by Oakland’s standards, so expect him to play fairly regularly.

Ryan Noda, 26, LHH, cannot be optioned (Rule 5 Draft pick)

Noda will need to earn his way onto the roster, but he’s a first base/corner outfield slugger who was blocked in Los Angeles by names like Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez. With the A’s, there are no such roadblocks to playing time, and he’ll get the chance to prove his career .894 OPS in the minors, including a .259/.396/.474 showing in Triple-A Oklahoma City last year can carry over to the big league level, to some extent. Noda, 27 later this month, has nearly twice as much first base time as he does corner outfield time in his pro career, but the A’s grabbed him for his bat, and he’ll get chances against righties so long as he earns a spot this spring.

Conner Capel, 25, LHH, two minor league options remaining

Capel posted a respectable .264/.364/.422 slash in Triple-A between the Cardinals and the A’s (who claimed him off waivers from St. Louis) in 2022. A 40-plate appearance cup of coffee in Oakland resulted in an eye-popping .371/.425/.600 slash late in the season, though a .423 average on balls in play in that tiny sample had plenty to do with it. Capel’s minor league track record is more solid than standout, but he’s on the 40-man roster and will try to hit his way into an Opening Day roster spot, even if he doesn’t share the recent production and/or prospect pedigree of some of his competitors.

Cal Stevenson, 26, LHH, two minor league options remaining

A thrice-traded former 10th-round pick, Stevenson turned heads with a .322/.413/.529 output in Triple-A last year — his first season in the A’s organization. That came on the heels of his inclusion in the trade sending Christian Bethancourt from Oakland to Tampa Bay, and Stevenson’s overall Triple-A output clocked in at .284/.389/.413 in 307 plate appearances. Stevenson walks at a high clip and has strong bat-to-ball skills, but he’s not a premium defender and has never topped nine home runs in a full season.

Brent Rooker, 28, RHH, one minor league option remaining

The former No. 35 overall pick (Minnesota, 2017), Rooker came to the A’s by way of a waiver claim. Oakland is his fourth team in the past calendar year, as clubs continue to be intrigued by his raw power and minor league production even as injuries and MLB struggles have undercut his appeal. Rooker is a first baseman/left fielder who has a career .274/.387/.590 slash and 62 dingers in 906 Triple-A plate appearances, but he’s mustered tepid .200/.289/.379 line in 270 big league plate appearances. It’s big-time right-handed pop, but Rooker needs to cut back on the 31.9% strikeout rate he’s shown in the Majors.

—

Given the slate of options already on the 40-man roster, it’s not a huge surprise that the A’s didn’t add a ton of minor league outfield depth over the winter. Cody Thomas was retained after they passed him through waivers following a DFA, and he’s in camp as a non-roster invitee. Thomas carved up Triple-A pitching in 2021 but missed nearly all of 2022 on the injured list. If he can get back to that ’21 form (.289/.363/.665), he could get another look in 2023. Meanwhile, old friend Greg Deichmann is back in the organization on his own minor league deal after scuffling in his lone full season with the Cubs (who acquired him in the 2021 trade that sent Andrew Chafin from Chicago to Oakland).

Looking just at the names on the 40-man roster, there are clearly far more bodies than at-bats to go around. The A’s are somewhat handcuffed by Pache’s lack of options, so he seems likely to make the roster and occupy at least a part-time role. Both Ruiz and Bleday are clearly viewed as potential outfield regulars by the Athletics’ front office, though neither is a necessary lock to break camp on the active roster (even if they’ll surely be given every opportunity to do so). The A’s are the perfect club to carry someone like Noda — a polished upper-minors hitter who can’t be optioned given his Rule 5 status — but they’ll need to also get Kemp and Brown sufficient at-bats (particularly if the goal is ultimately to trade one or both this summer).

Each of Capel, Stevenson and Rooker could factor into plans as well, though that trio ostensibly feels more like upper-minors depth or perhaps part-time options off the bench. On many clubs, playing time with this type of saturated outfield mix would boil down to a meritocracy, but the rebuilding A’s can and likely will be more patient with out-of-options players, Rule 5 selections and hopeful summer trade chips.

It’s a fluid situation, one without clear answers. An ideal situation would see Laureano, Brown and Kemp play well enough to be traded for decent returns, while Pache takes enough of a step forward to hold down center field as Ruiz and Bleday emerge as viable options on either side of him (all while Noda hits enough to seize the first base job). Things rarely work out so smoothly for any club, however. The A’s badly need some of their newly acquired outfield talent to pan out, though, as last offseason’s slate of trades did little to improve the long-term outlook. How they allot playing time on the path to reaching that end goal will be one of the key stories to monitor for A’s fans this year.

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