What A’s players need to work on this offseason

For some it is time for rest and relaxation, for others it is time for rehab and strengthening. And for some players, this offseason is an opportunity to address a key weakness or limitation in their current game. Here are some “If you only focus on one thing…” tips for some of our athletics classes in Sacramento…

Zack Gelof

The swing has simply become too long and violent, and the result is the ability to catch up with fastballs in the zone, combined with the need to start the swing so early to compensate, has left Gelof terribly vulnerable to chase sliders.

The answer lies in an adjustment that Gelof seemingly couldn’t make in real time during the season, but which can be addressed at leisure in the offseason: rediscovering the shorter, more fluid “right-center” swing that made him one of the best in the game League has made best young hitters in 2023.

The good news is that in the 2024 season, despite leading the world in K rate and disappointing us all (and no doubt himself even more), Gelof produced 17 HR, 25 SB in 28 attempts and excellent baserunning as he had to prove it.

But there’s no sugarcoating a .212 BA, a .270 OBP or a 34.4% K rate, and the path to success lies in momentum on the field in a game where split seconds make the difference.

Shea Langeliers

Unfortunately, Langeliers isn’t limited to one flaw in his game, as he has plenty of issues both at the plate and behind it. Unfortunately, as a .224/.288 hitter in 2024, this represented improvements in both areas over his rookie season.

In the meantime, Shea has also improved as a pitch framer – but only from last place to “well, not last anyway.” That’s why we are aware of all these issues while focusing on a separate issue as a skill that can be developed with hundreds of repetitions between seasons.

Langaliers has terrible form when trying to block balls that aren’t directly in front of him. To see proper technique, just look at postseason games and see Austin Wells as one example, but pretty much any catcher as another, sliding sideways to try to get his body involved in the pursuit.

Langeliers typically keeps his body static and stabs on the backhand side during erratic throws, and that’s objectively terrible form. This is a correctable error that could help improve the catcher’s defensive game as he learns to hold throws where the umpire can see them (seriously, how hard is that???) and better understands that “Wrong guessing” is a terrible hitting strategy.

Lawrence Butler

Butler’s second half (.300/.345/.553 with 13 HR and 12/12 SB in 61 games) was electric and it’s important to remember that it’s unlikely he’ll repeat that in 2025. But offensively and on the bases, he is poised to be an impact hitter for years to come.

What Butler needs to devote this offseason to is improving his play in RF to become an asset on “both sides of the ball.” Currently he is raw, with talent but not necessarily skills.

The metrics currently view Butler as about average, in part because he can escape his mistakes at times, but for the eyeball scout, his reads, jumps and routes need a lot of work.

The good news is that Butler is very teachable, adaptable and hardworking in every way. So since he’s athletic enough to play solid outfield, he should be able to take his game up a level or two more in RF.

The point here is that this improvement is necessary because the status quo is Butler giving back some of his offensive value in the RF rather than being a force in both the top and bottom of the innings. Get to work, Law!

Joey Estes

Unless he can sign up for Driveline and take the Jared Koenig “Improve Your Fastball 8 MPH Overnight” course, Estes will always be a barrage of HRs waiting to be implemented with his current arsenal.

It’s great that he’s confident, aggressive, fills the strike zone and has a bulldog mentality – but all that only gets you so far if the stuff isn’t playing well enough. And for Estes, he works tirelessly at the top of the strike zone with almost no margin for error, paying a heavy price for his small location mistakes.

I know it’s not easy to just “add a pitch” that you don’t have. If it were that easy, every pitcher would do it. But the reality is this: You can’t succeed in the big leagues with a 24.6% ground ball percentage (24.9% career).

If I were Estes, I would take inspiration from rotation mates Mitch Spence and JP Sears and try to develop a sinker that gives him a pitch he can throw in the zone without having to try to miss at-bats Pitch that can persuade some He has more ground balls and gets his infielders more involved, the fans in the stands less so.

Whether Estes is capable of developing a decent sinker remains unclear. What I can say with more confidence is that the current arsenal in its current form simply won’t work. So start playing with handles and see if you can find a way to at least get that GB percentage into the 40s in spring training.

Thoughts on these players and these skills? Or others you would like to suggest as “off-season homework”? Tell…