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The injury bug has found the A's and is not leaving them alone. Over the course of the past 10 days, the club has placed Zack Gelof, Jacob Wilson and Tyler Soderstrom on the IL and announced that DH Brent Rooker will miss the rest of the 2026 season while recovering from knee surgery.
On Friday night, catcher Shea Langeliers was removed from the game in the bottom of the fourth inning and replaced by Jonah Heim behind the plate.
"First inning Lang had a ball that backed up on him and got off the left side of his glove," A's manager Mark Kotsay said after the game. "It's a left thumb contusion."
The A's skipper also said that Langeliers is day-to-day and will be reevaluated on Saturday.
Even after suffering the injury in the first inning, Langeliers stayed in the game for two at-bats, going 0-for-2 with two strikeouts, and caught three more innings.
Langeliers is expected to be headed to the All Star game after leading the voting in the latest update, though he's already ruled himself out of participating in the Home Run Derby.
Catcher is the one spot that a team can't afford to have just one option at without a backup or an emergency plan in place. If Langeliers is out for a day or two, the club would be riding with Heim behind the dish, with no obvious backup.
When Langeliers initially went on the paternity list, the A's only had one backstop for that Sunday game, and it was Austin Wynns. At the time, Kotsay said that Soderstrom, who was drafted by the team as a catcher, was the team's emergency catcher — with an emphasis on emergency.
With Soderstrom on the IL, that's not an option for the club.
It's not like most other positions where a fielder can throw on a glove and be put in a situation they're unfamiliar with. Soderstrom went out and played left field last season for the first time in his life and ended up being a Gold Glove finalist.
Catching is a different animal entirely, and anyone back there in the big leagues needs to have some experience simply calling a game, catching those pitches and firing the ball down to second. If a runner got on, they would undoubtedly run wild.
This all means that the A's will have to be proactive in their decision making here. They will either have to be absolutely certain that Langeliers will be back on Sunday or Monday, or they may have to make a roster move to get a backup in the big leagues.
The team has 38 players on the 40-man roster right now and three minor-league catchers to choose from in Triple-A Las Vegas.
Those three are Brian Serven, Chad Wallach and Bryan Lavastida. If this is simply a depth move to buy Langeliers a couple of days, that could mean that the A's go with the best defensive option to be deployed in an emergency situation.
They could also option either Joey Meneses or Darell Hernaiz — neither of whom is getting a ton of playing time — to make this happen.
For now, all eyes turn to Saturday's reevaluation. If Langeliers isn't full-go, the A's won't have the luxury of waiting for long.
Join the conversation at Athletics Roundtable — your home for A's baseball coverage and community! You can also follow Jason @ByJasonB on Twitter or @JasonBurke on BlueSky so you never miss an article!
Continue reading...
On Friday night, catcher Shea Langeliers was removed from the game in the bottom of the fourth inning and replaced by Jonah Heim behind the plate.
"First inning Lang had a ball that backed up on him and got off the left side of his glove," A's manager Mark Kotsay said after the game. "It's a left thumb contusion."
The A's skipper also said that Langeliers is day-to-day and will be reevaluated on Saturday.
Even after suffering the injury in the first inning, Langeliers stayed in the game for two at-bats, going 0-for-2 with two strikeouts, and caught three more innings.
Langeliers is expected to be headed to the All Star game after leading the voting in the latest update, though he's already ruled himself out of participating in the Home Run Derby.
Tough Situation for A's
Catcher is the one spot that a team can't afford to have just one option at without a backup or an emergency plan in place. If Langeliers is out for a day or two, the club would be riding with Heim behind the dish, with no obvious backup.
When Langeliers initially went on the paternity list, the A's only had one backstop for that Sunday game, and it was Austin Wynns. At the time, Kotsay said that Soderstrom, who was drafted by the team as a catcher, was the team's emergency catcher — with an emphasis on emergency.
With Soderstrom on the IL, that's not an option for the club.
It's not like most other positions where a fielder can throw on a glove and be put in a situation they're unfamiliar with. Soderstrom went out and played left field last season for the first time in his life and ended up being a Gold Glove finalist.
Catching is a different animal entirely, and anyone back there in the big leagues needs to have some experience simply calling a game, catching those pitches and firing the ball down to second. If a runner got on, they would undoubtedly run wild.
This all means that the A's will have to be proactive in their decision making here. They will either have to be absolutely certain that Langeliers will be back on Sunday or Monday, or they may have to make a roster move to get a backup in the big leagues.
The team has 38 players on the 40-man roster right now and three minor-league catchers to choose from in Triple-A Las Vegas.
Those three are Brian Serven, Chad Wallach and Bryan Lavastida. If this is simply a depth move to buy Langeliers a couple of days, that could mean that the A's go with the best defensive option to be deployed in an emergency situation.
They could also option either Joey Meneses or Darell Hernaiz — neither of whom is getting a ton of playing time — to make this happen.
For now, all eyes turn to Saturday's reevaluation. If Langeliers isn't full-go, the A's won't have the luxury of waiting for long.
Join the conversation at Athletics Roundtable — your home for A's baseball coverage and community! You can also follow Jason @ByJasonB on Twitter or @JasonBurke on BlueSky so you never miss an article!
Continue reading...
