SB Nation • 12 min read

Elephant Rumblings: Five All-MLB nominees for Athletics

Good morning everyone! Happy Friday!

We got treated to some terrific playoff baseball yesterday as three teams advanced to the Divisional Round, while three teams saw their seasons come to an earlier-than-hoped

end. The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox and now have a series with their division rival, the Toronto Blue Jays, all set and ready to kick off. The Detroit Tigers avenged their historic late-season collapse to the Guardians by knocking them out of the playoffs in front of their own home fans, winning in Cleveland and setting up a date with the Athletics’ division rival, the Seattle Mariners.

Over in the National League, the Chicago Cubs knocked out the San Diego Padres (with a little help from the umpire), leaving just one California team left in the playoffs. They’ll be seeing their divisional opponent in the Milwaukee Brewers tomorrow afternoon. The Dodgers and Phillies are set to square off after Los Angeles dispatched Cincinnati with ease in just two games. That looks like the most compelling series in the next round. Either team is a serious threat to win the whole thing, once they get past the other.

Enough about the playoffs though. We’ve now gone a whole work week without the A’s as the long winter offseason commences but there are still bits of news and wrappings up we have left before really settling in for the winter.

We now know that the club has five nominees for the All-MLB team, a recent addition to baseball awards that goes to the best player at that position:

C Shea Langeliers
1B Nick Kurtz
SS Jacob Wilson
OF Tyler Soderstrom
DH Brent Rooker

Just getting nominated is a big deal, and an acknowledgement by the baseball world that you’re one of the top hitters at your position. The A’s were fortunate enough to get five nominees this year and each one of them is deserving of at least the nomination, if not the award. Baseball gives both First and Second Team honors and it’d be a shock if none of our players get a single spot.

Going down the list, it’s clear that Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh will win First Team honors at catcher, but Langeliers has an excellent chance to take Second Team thanks after finishing tied for second in homers from a backstop. He could have the best chance of any Athletic to get a spot on the All-MLB team.

Expected American League Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz has had an historic rookie campaign and looks like he’s ready to make MVP noise next season with a full year under his belt. As far as All-MLB this year goes though, he’s got a ton of stiff competition at first base and it wouldn’t surprise anyone to see a bigger name like Pete Alonso, Bryce Harper or Freddie Freeman win the awards. It’s a deep position with a ton of contenders but who knows? Maybe Kurtz sneaks himself into Second Team honors?

Then you have shortstop Jacob Wilson. Baseball’s Rookie of the First Half, Wilson ended the year tied with fellow shortstop Bo Bichette for second in all of baseball with a .311 batting average, and again, as a rookie! He started the All-Star Game at shortstop, the first in decades that’s happened. It was a successful year by any measure for the budding star, but with the missed time and another deep list of superstars at his position, it’d be a major shock to see Wilson get selected this year. But it’s coming one day, maybe as soon as next year.

Ah, Sodey. The former 1st-round pick finally got an extended look in the big leagues and he ran with it, hitting 25 home runs and slashing .276/.346/.474, all while being asked to learn a new position of left field (after being asked to learn first base over the offseason). The club has to be excited about the massive step forward the lefty slugger took this year but for as good as the 23-year-old did this year, it still feels like there’s another level to unlock in that bat of his. For Soderstrom, getting nominated is likely as far as he goes as there’s just way too much competition in the outfield for him to be a real threat. Still, like Wilson it feels like he’s not far from getting to at least Second Team honors.

And finally, designated hitter Brent Rooker. An All-Star for the second time in his career (should have been third after the snub in ‘24), Rooker continues to anchor the middle of the Athletics’ lineup as he hit 30 home runs for the third straight season. But like with Kurtz, it really didn’t matter what Rooker did this year; the presence of generational players like Shohei Ohtani and Kyle Schwarber make winning the award nothing more than a dream. There’s tons of amazing DH’s in the game today and as great as Rook has been, he hasn’t come close to the heights of some of his peers. Still nice to be nominated though.

So how do you guys think the awards will shake out? Does any Athletic get First or Second Team All-MLB honors? Comment with your guesses below!

Have a great weekend to you all!