Elephant Rumblings-A Few A’s Bats Coming Alive

Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers leads the team in most offensive categories. | Dennis Lee-Imagn Images Despite dropping four out of five games to start the month of May, the A’s still have some names hovering atop the hitting leaderboards. In fact, at this point, thirty-six games into the season,

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What is the story about?

Despite dropping four out of five games to start the month of May, the A’s still have some names hovering atop the hitting leaderboards. In fact, at this point, thirty-six games into the season, they have at least one player in the top five of five of eight hitting categories in the American League. Here’s where they stand:

Shea Langeliers is tied for second in batting average (.336)
Shea Langeliers is tied for first in hits (45)
Jacob Wilson is tied for fourth in hits (42)
Shea Langeliers is fourth in slugging percentage (627)
Shea Langeliers is fourth in OPS (1.017)
Tyler Soderstrom is tied for fourth in doubles (11)

Carlos Cortes would lead the league in batting with a .372 batting average except that he has only seventy-eight at-bats in twenty-eight games. The way A’s manager Mark Kotsay

is platooning him, he won’t be catching up any time soon.

The question isn’t if these three names will remain in the spotlight, but will any others join them. Nick Kurtz is starting to show some life and at least seems to be able to reach first. The extra-base hits will come. I’m not comfortable saying the same thing about anyone else. Brent Rooker is lost at the plate in 2026, and Lawrence Butlet is looking more and more like an error in judgement.

The A’s rank ninth in batting average; fifteenth in homers and seventeenth in RBI’s. Despite these lackluster stats they are still one game ahead of both the Mariners and Rangers in the American League West standings. Stunningly, their run differential stands at -21, by far the worst among league leaders. This team has the potential to be an offensive juggernaut. Let’s hope the spark inside of them all is ignited soon.