Athletics Drop Series to Rangers

Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

August 10, 2023

The Oakland Athletics (33–82) lost their recent three game series to the Texas Rangers (68–47). After dropping the first two games of the series, the Athletics won the third game, 2–0. The young bats have continued to develop and bring some life back into the organization. Zack Gelof continues to produce at a high level, while Esteury Ruiz puts fear in the opposing team by just being on base. With more players coming up through the pipeline, the future vision of the A’s is starting to take shape before our eyes.

The Athletics move to 6–28 against AL West opponents this season. The fate of the division could certainly be settled by who has the best record versus the worst team in the division. Currently the Rangers have the worst record in the AL West against the Athletics at 7–3 (.700). The Seattle Mariners are 7–0, Houston Astros are 9–1 (.900), and the Los Angeles Angels are 5–2 (.714). From here, the team moves out of division and heads to the Nation’s Capital to take on the Washington Nationals over the weekend.

Zack Gelof

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Fans cannot talk enough about the impact that Gelof has had on the 2023 Oakland Athletics. He is one of three Oakland Athletics players ever to have five home runs, and five stolen bases in his first 20 games. The other two are Reggie Jackson and Jose Canseco. His .560 SLG, .875 OPS, and 145 OPS+ lead all Athletics since his call up to the majors. On top of his offensive numbers, he ranks in the top 5% of all players in sprint speed. Add all this to his .990 fielding percentage and there isn’t an area where he hasn’t boosted the team since being added to the roster.

Gelof’s advanced metrics are also incredibly impressive to see. His average exit velocity is 92.4 mph. That’s four mph higher than the league average. His other advanced metrics that are higher than league average according to baseball savant. The Athletics look like they have locked down half of their double play tandem for the foreseeable future.

His impact on the team as a whole cannot be understated. Since being called up on July 14, the team has played 22 games. Their record in those 22 games is 8–14. This might not seem like a huge bump, but when your team only has 33 wins on the season, it starts to put things into more perspective. Since being called up to the big league, Gelof has played in 25% of the Athletics’ wins this season, all in the last 22 games. Zack Gelof is the best player on the Athletics roster and it’s not even really close.

Esteury Ruiz

Esteury Ruiz had been the most exciting player on the Athletics’ roster all season before his injury on July 6. When he went on the IL, he was leading the majors in stolen bases. He has been passed by Ronald Acuna Jr., but since his return he has wasted no time getting right back to stealing bases. In the third game of the series, Ruiz stole his 45th and 46th bases of the season. He now trails Acuna by seven stolen bases.

Ruiz’s presence in the Athletic’s lineup changes the complexity of games. Teams know he is going to be stealing, and they still can’t do anything about it. Pitchers have to shorten their times to the plate, leading to decreased control. The more they have to think about Ruiz on base, the more likely they are to leave something over the plate to other hitters in the lineup. This also means that hitters are going to see more fastballs. Pitchers and catchers are reluctant to throw off speed in case of balls in the dirt. More fastballs and less control from pitchers mean big paydays for hitter in the heart of the lineup.