The All-Star break each season gives us a chance to assess how our teams are doing. Here are my thoughts on the A’s season thus far;
The A’s started brightly, thanks in no small part to Tyler Soderstrom’s fantastic start to the season. Because of this, the team’s record hung around .500 for the first month or so of the season. However, they then very dramatically dropped off and have been at the bottom of the American League (AL) West standings for the past couple of months.
Therefore, that now-very familiar feeling of disappointment and frustration has set in following what felt like a very promising start.
That being said, the A’s are objectively a better team than they were this time last season, when I was very open about actually enjoying watching them for the first time in a few seasons.
I say this because, as much as it doesn’t feel like an improvement on last season, the A’s go into the All-Star break with a better win-loss record than last season – this year, after 98 games, the A’s stand at 41-57. In 2024, the A’s went into the All-Star break, also having played 98 games, with a 37-61 record. It may only be a small improvement, but it’s improvement nonetheless.
In addition to a year-on-year improvement in results, there have been other bright spots. In particular, the A’s rookies have been a joy to behold.
Jacob Wilson started this season with a 15-game hitting streak (which was actually 16 games if you also count the final game of the 2024 season). Since then, he has continued to play well, and went into the All-Star break with the second-highest batting average (.332) in MLB behind only Aaron Judge, along with nine home runs, 42 RBIs and only 28 strikeouts from 340 at-bats. Add to this, he was also the AL Rookie of the Month for May. As such, he is deservedly the first fan-elected rookie All-Star starting shortstop in MLB history going into the All-Star Game tonight.
Nick Kurtz has also been fantastic since he was called up from the minors. Let’s not forget too that Kurtz was the A’s first-round Draft pick LAST YEAR, and he’s now playing in the majors as a fixture in the A’s starting line-up. It’s been a fantastic rise to the majors in a short amount of time for him then, and let’s hope he can sustain the level of play that has seen him hit a rookie-leading 17 home runs and 44 RBIs and be named the AL Rookie of the Month for June. The irony of this being that Kurtz would probably be the leading candidate for AL Rookie of the Year if it wasn’t for Jacob Wilson.
And, finally, I can’t talk about A’s rookies without mentioning Denzel Clarke. He may not be as proficient of a hitter as Wilson and Kurtz but, my goodness, has he been a revelation defensively for the A’s, at one point making MLB’s Electrifying Play of the Week three weeks running, including THAT catch to prevent a Nolan Schanuel home run against the Angels.
That’s not to take away from the A’s other players though; Max Muncy is quietly having a very respectable rookie campaign of his own for the A’s with nine home runs and 23 RBIs thus far, Lawrence Butler has rightly played himself into the role of the A’s lead-off hitter and Shea Langeliers, even though he missed a fair chuck of time with an oblique injury, is having another solid season. Brent Rooker continues to be a solid designated hitter too. I’m not sure he’ll make my bold prediction of 50 home runs in 2025 come true, but he’s doing well with 20 home runs and was unlucky not to progress beyond the first round in the Home Run Derby last night.
Sadly, the same isn’t true on the mound for the A’s this season. As I highlighted in my 2025 Season Preview of the Athletics, the A’s invested heavily in pitching before this season, bringing in free agent Luis Severino on the largest guaranteed contract in franchise history, as well as Jeffrey Springs from the Tampa Bay Rays, among others. Jeffrey Springs did not start the season well though, although he has started to show his quality more of late.
No article about the A’s can be written without mentioning the ballpark situation, and Severino has publicly grumbled about playing home games at Sutter Health Park – which is also the home of the San Francisco Giants’ Triple-A affiliates the Sacramento River Cats – remarking that every game feels like a Spring Training game. As much as I have sympathy for him, and agree with his sentiments, this is no excuse for the large disparity between his 6.79 ERA at Sutter Health Park versus his 2.27 ERA when he’s on the road though; Severino knew what he was signing up for when he agreed to come to the A’s – Sutter Health Park is the ballpark whose nuances he should know the best, and should be using to his advantage. It became very clear very quickly at the start of the season that the ball carries very easily into left field at Sutter Health Park. As much as the A’s hitters can use that to their advantage, so can opposition hitters, and so, it’s Severino’s job to take that into account.
That being said, Joey Estes, who I raved about in my 2024 mid-season and end of season articles last year, also struggled at Sutter Health Park and was sent back down to the minors in April after only two starts.
Given this, the A’s finally broke ground at The Tropicana site in Las Vegas in late June with a target of moving in ahead of the 2028 season, and it may be, for some A’s pitchers at least, that move cannot come soon enough. Whether it actually happens though given the mounting costs of construction, and where the A’s would go otherwise, is another issue entirely, and not one I want to think about currently given the debacle it’s been thus far.
For now, the A’s have another 64 games to play in 2025 starting this weekend, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the likes of Wilson, Kurtz and Clarke can do between now and September.
Brett Walker is The Athletics contributor for Bat Flips & Nerds, and can be found on Twitter @BrettChatsSport. He can also be found on Bluesky.
Featured image – AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis
