Everyone knew coming into this season that the A’s would have the same setup as the team across the Bay, the San Francisco Giants. The A’s pitching has been hyped up from the get go, and rightfully so. The starters are young and very good, and the relievers are a major improvement over last years.
The A’s lineup looks a bit different from last years as David Dejesus, Josh Willingham, and Hideki Matsui now sit in the 3-4-5 spots.
Willingham is currently doing the best out of the three with a .231 average with two home runs and five RBIs. Dejesus sits at .217 with 3 RBIs and Matsui is currently hitting .182 with 3 RBIs as well.
As the statistics show, these guys were brought in to score some runs. Willingham leads the team with his five RBIs, and Dejesus and Matsui are three and four in the same category.
Willingham has never hit better than .277 in his five full seasons. He has eclipsed 21+ home runs three out of the five seasons. He has only had 70+ RBIs in two of his major league seasons.
Dejesus on the other hand will provide a somewhat more consistent average as he is a career .289 hitter. Last season, Dejesus had his best average of his career hitting .318. This came in only 91 games though. Dejesus has never hit more than 13 home runs and has never brought in more than 73 RBIs in his 7 seasons.
Matsui’s average has fallen each season after his highest average in 2005 of .305. Last season, Matsui hit .274 with 21 home runs and 84 RBIs. Matsui is currently 36 and will turn 37 in June, which brings up some health issues this late in his career.
Not all the blame can just be placed on these three guys. Third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff is hitting a team worse .174. Catcher Kurt Suzuki is tied with Kouzmanoff for the team worst average as well. Kouzmanoff and Suzuki both have an RBI a piece.
A major focus of the A’s will be the health of outfielder Coco Crisp. Crisp currently leads the team with a .276 average and has 8 hits. Crisp also leads the team with three stolen bases. Crisp has only played more than 130 games three times out of his MLB career of nine seasons. He only played in 75 games in his first season with the A’s last season.
The A’s will be asking a lot out of their younger hitters as well. Short Stop Cliff Pennington hit .250 with six home runs and 46 RBIs in his first full MLB season.
First Baseman Daric Barton has been hitting out of the two hole and leads the team with a .367 OBP. Barton hit .273 with ten home runs and 57 RBIs.
The fact is that the A’s offense has only scored more than three runs twice this season. The pitching hasn’t been stellar thus far in the season, but it’s still early and this team could get things clicking. This team is young and is very similar to last years Giants team. There will be many 2-1, 3-2, and 1-0 games for the A’s. They need to find ways to win these games, and it will start with the offense.
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