Vagabond Athletics look ready for MLB spotlight, even in a temporary home

BALTIMORE – There are still a few maxims about playing for the Athletics – late of Oakland, currently of West Sacramento, perhaps soon of Las Vegas – that remain true in this period of franchise limbo.

Best to rent, not buy, as owner John Fisher’s cozy luxury-geared dream ballpark goes up in Las Vegas and the club makes do in what should be the second of three seasons in Yolo County.

Life remains more luxe on the road, with 10,000-seat Sutter Health Park still geared for a Class AAA ballclub despite upgrades to satisfy the big league squatters. And while the roster is no longer an homage to the major league minimum salary, the club’s $91.8 million opening-day payroll still ranks 25^th out of 30 teams.

 Yet it’s undeniable that something has changed as a core of largely homegrown players coalesces. Players can glance around the clubhouse and see not a stopgap or trade fodder, but rather a dude they came up with.

And in some cases, envision playing alongside for many more years.

“When there’s a level of comfort, a level of familiarity with each other, and camaraderie and a good culture in the clubhouse, it makes it easy to go out and have fun and perform at a high level on the field,” All-Star DH and veteran sage Brent Rooker tells USA TODAY Sports.

“We’ve got all those things.”

Forty games into the season, they’ve got something else: The third-best record in the American League and a tenuous hold on first place in the AL West.

At 21-19, the A’s are by no means popping bottles. After all, they reached the one-quarter mark last season with an identical record – and proceeded to lose 19 of their next 21 games on the way to a 76-86 finish.

As if on cue, the club lost All-Star shortstop Jacob Wilson to a sprained left shoulder on Sunday, May 11; initial imaging was not definitive but Wilson figures to go on the injured list before the club takes on St. Louis at home Tuesday.

Still, the team at large has an extra year under its belt, a greater familiarity with its temporary home and a stronger conviction in doing its job.

“I feel like last year, all the guys were feeling everything – getting their feet wet in Sacramento, seeing how the ball flies, all that stuff,” says right-hander Luis Severino, whose $67 million contract signed before 2025 marked a capital investment unforeseen when the roster went to pot in the club’s dying days in Oakland. “Now we have a different mentality to go out there and compete.

“We showed the world last year what we can do and this year we just continue to do that.”

'The belief in myself is truly there'

Indeed, certain metrics show a level of confidence perhaps unseen in past years. The team is 13-11 on the road, splitting six games in Philadelphia and Baltimore last week. They’re 8-5 in one-run games, which shows either resolve or unsustainability, depending on how you view it.

Regardless of how the next quarter plays out, there’s an undeniable not-our-first-rodeo vibe with the squad.

“Once you’ve established yourself and have multiple years in the big leagues, there’s a feeling that you belong,” manager Mark Kotsay tells USA TODAY Sports, “and a feeling that, even if you’re off to a rough start, you’ve had enough time here, with enough at-bats and enough history, to know you’ll get to where you need to be.

“I think that’s the biggest contributing factor to lasting success.”

Shea Langeliers has certainly seen it. Now the longest-tenured Athletic, he was acquired from Atlanta for All-Star catcher Sean Murphy and tossed into the mix in 2022, Kotsay’s first season, a 102-loss campaign.

They’d lose 112 games a year later, say goodbye to Oakland, decamp to Gold Country and stack top 10 draft picks. Those turned into Wilson and first baseman Nick Kurtz in 2023 and 2024.

And in 2025, Kurtz, the 6-foot-5 power-hitting savant, socked 36 home runs in 117 games, while Wilson banged out 151 hits in 125 games; they finished 1-2 in AL Rookie of the Year voting.

Suddenly, Langeliers felt surrounded.

“These young kinds now – they don’t spend much time in the minors,” says Langeliers, 28, a first-round pick of Atlanta in 2019. “They get up here and it’s like getting thrown to the wolves, but you get guys like Kurtz and Willy who immediately have success. Up until this point, nobody really did that.

“To be 1-2 in Rookie of the Year voting, to see (Zack) Gelof back and doing his thing, it’s been awesome to watch them grow as men and as players.”

Perhaps no one’s grown as much as Langeliers, whose progress has been steady and almost linear. He struck out 29% of the time and batted .215 over his first three seasons, yet upped his average to .276 while hitting 31 homers and 32 doubles in 2025.

This year, he is leading the AL in batting (.336) and has a 1.017 OPS, his 11 homers putting him on a 40-homer pace.

“The trust in myself and belief in myself now is truly there,” says Langeliers.

Should he remain healthy, Langeliers will be an All-Star this season, his stock steadily going up, to his mates’ delight.

“Every day, week, month, year it seems like he’s making improvements to get where he is now – which is one of the premier hitters in baseball,” says Rooker. “And he has been for a while.

“It’s been a blast to watch.”

Langeliers and Kurtz – currently on a 34-game on-base streak - are among the A’s few premier talents who aren’t bolted down.

With pressure from Major League Baseball to spend its revenue-sharing money and internal desires to present a serviceable product to Las Vegas, the A’s went on a commitment spree from December 2024 – when they committed to Severino for three seasons – to February 2026.

Rooker: Signed in January 2025 to a $60 million deal through 2029.

Center fielder Lawrence Butler: Signed in March 2025 to a $65.5 million deal through 2031.

Slugger Tyler Soderstrom: Signed in December 2025 to an $86 million deal through 2032.

Wilson: Signed in February to a $70 million deal through 2032.

Langeliers missed the long-term extension train in one sense: He was stacking up service time while figuring things out at the big league level. Now, he’ll have four years of service and be just two seasons from hitting the market, his near-league minimum years long since past.

“I love this organization. I love this staff. I love my teammates. I love playing here,” says Langeliers. “Stuff like that, I know it will work out the way it’s supposed to so I’m not really worried about it.”

Athletics 'journey' continues

If nothing else, the A’s are assured of having Kurtz, Wilson and others around well into their projected time in Las Vegas. The club is gradually trying to get one foot firmly down in the desert, holding Wilson’s contract extension press conference there in February and sharing frequent updates on the ballpark’s construction.

While Fisher has pledged $1 billion to the ballpark project and said in March the stadium is “on time and on budget,” it remains to be seen whether he will tap new investors or a grander portion of his family’s fortune to fund that portion of the $2 billion project.

Skeptics have seen the club’s vision of the stadium change right in front of their eyes.

When the club released initial renderings of their 33,000-seat Strip ballpark in 2024, the message board displayed Gelof’s very encouraging batting average on the screen.

Injuries and ineffectiveness limited Gelof, then a second baseman, to 30 big league games in 2025. When the most recent renderings were released that year, the video board had a new player to tout: Rooker.

Now, in a full circle kind of moment, Gelof is back in the majors, recast as a highly useful utility guy who can play second, third and center field – nearly robbing Bryce Harper of a home run despite not possessing an outfielder’s glove until days earlier.

“It’s been a journey,” says Gelof. “I feel like I’m still on it and my best baseball is ahead of me. Coming up and having success and battling through life – it’s been a lot of learning experiences.

“I’m going to try and continue to learn and be the best person and player I can be.”

Not unlike their Oakland predecessors, the A’s have their share of scrap heap success stories. Outfielder Carlos Cortes’s career was revived after he left the Mets as a seven-year free agent in 2024.

Now, he’s batting .355 with a .978 OPS in 103 plate appearances.

“Carlos didn’t get an opportunity with the Mets,” says Kotsay of Cortes’s last days with New York in which he averaged 325 at-bats his past two minor league seasons. “He’s always been a professional hitter.”

Says Cortes, who signed a minor league contract with the A’s the first day he was a free agent in 2024: “It was really refreshing to go somewhere and almost feel like you’re valued. It kind of felt like at the end I wasn’t valued there.”

The A’s are hoping this year brings more mutual appreciation in West Sacramento. The region has just enough to keep the big leaguer happy; as one veteran put it, there are two Ruth’s Chris steakhouses and a handful of excellent breakfast venues, which is a significant part of the battle.

For what it’s worth, crowds are up at Sutter Health Park. This weekend, the club can paint a stark difference between their success and the failings of their former Bay Area neighbors when the San Francisco Giants visit the 916.

More reinforcements may be coming. Outfielder Henry Bolte went on a batting rampage for their Class AAA team this past weekend, recording hits in 12 consecutive at-bats; he had back-to-back 5-for-5 nights that included eight extra-base hits.

Whenever Bolte or top prospect Leo De Vries reach the majors, a nucleus will await  to greet them.

“More and more guys are getting to be a part of it,” says Langeliers. “It feels like we’ve been building toward this for a couple of years now. We’re starting to put it all together – one unit, one big family.”

Says Rooker: “We’ve got a lot of talent. And we’re playing our hearts out.”