The Oakland A's player the clubhouse thinks is going to break out

With the start of a new baseball season, everyone in the A's clubhouse is ready to get going and start proving the detractors wrong. With that being the case, I went around on Monday night and asked some of the guys who they thought would have a big year.

For Mason Miller, it's Ryan Noda. "I think Noda is going to have a big year. I'm excited to watch him play every day. I think last year he settled down pretty well throughout the year, and now with him being in his second year with us, I think he's ready to take a step forward."

Last season he hit .229 with a .364 OBP and 16 home runs in 128 games played. He began the 2023 season in a timeshare at first with veteran Jesús Aguilar, who was released by the A's in early June. Noda quietly held a 123 wRC+ (100 is league average), which is the same level of production that AL Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson had, along with José Ramírez and Gelyber Torres. If he'd been a qualified hitter, Noda would have ranked seventh in wRC+ among all MLB first baseman, besting Paul Goldschmidt (122) and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (118). The A's first baseman is set to turn 28 on Saturday.

Reliever Lucas Erceg believes that it'll be Miller that has the big season. "I know there's definitely a lot of guys that are going to surprise some people. I think Mason Miller at the back-end of our bullpen is going to be absolutely crazy. I mean, he's just got electric stuff. He shows up to the ball field ready to get better and make something of himself. I know he's come a long way with his injuries, but just the way he shows up to the field every day. Like I said, trying to get better and and kind of prove something just speaks volumes to his character. I admire being on the same team as him and watching him have success.

Miller is ranked the number two prospect in the A's system on MLB Pipeline even though he made his big-league debut last season. The 25-year-old right-hander pitched in just ten games and totaled 33 1/3 innings while putting up a 3.78 ERA with a 3.47 FIP. Heading into 2024 he wants to fill up the zone early, but as a reliever, he feels that sometimes there's a good walk in the right spot. He said that in a tight game, "Sometimes there's a guy you might want to get around." That level of thought for someone switching roles with under 100 innings of pro baseball experience in impressive.

He's also focusing more on his strengths since he only gets 15-20 pitches per outing as a reliever. "You don't really want to be toying around with your third or fourth pitch. You want to feel convicted and say 'this is my best pitch here.' That's what you want to do. That's what you want to execute."

The only player to be mentioned multiple times was catcher Shea Langeliers. Brent Rooker was the first to mention the A's backstop.

"I think Shea is going to have a massive season offensively. He's gonna be as rock solid back there as he always is, you know, throw a bunch of guys out, but I think offensively he's going to take a big step forward."

As for what is different this spring to what Rooker saw last season? "I just think he has a better understanding of swing. We talked about things in spring. A full season of at-bats is always going to help out, right, so he had that last year. He learned a lot. He improved a lot. His last month last year was I mean really, really good from an offensive standpoint. Amazing momentum into this year, and even a little more, so I'm looking for Shea to have a big year."

Aledmys Díaz took it even a step further. "He's got everything to be a top three catcher in the league. he can hit, and he has a cannon as an arm. I could see him like J.T. Realmuto early in his career with the Marlins."

While that may sound like a stretch, when you look at the numbers, it's possible that Langeliers could be in that realm. While he's not likely to hit for average like Realmuto, who hit .278 in his age 26 season, his walk rate is already on par, and his wRC+ in the second half of 2023 (the one the Rooker talked up) was 105, compared to Realmuto's 107 for the year in 2017. For Langeliers to reach that level, cutting down on the stirkeouts (29.2% last season) would be a good step forward.

Defensively, Langeliers' framing is a bit behind Realmuto's, but that is something that A's manager Mark Kotsay said he's been working on this spring by getting under the baseball when he receives pitches.

JP Sears also touted the impending Langeliers breakout season after his start against the San Francisco Giants on Monday. "I have pretty high expectations for Shea. I think Shea last year was still learning a lot while he was doing well at times but still learned a lot. I think he's going to come this year super prepared and fairly confident."

Langeliers said that towards the end of the year in 2023 he started figuring things out, and this year he's focused on consistency. "I started building confidence in my approach and was able to carry that into the offseason and through spring training. So I really like where I'm at offensively. Feeling confident, feeling good. Defensively, it's just another year you know? I know these guys, one year better than last year. So just building that camaraderie together, [and] getting more comfortable with each other. Just excited to see what happens."

So who does Langeliers think will end up having a breakout season? None other than his battery mate, JP Sears. "Making 32 starts last year. Just off the way he's looked this spring, I'm really excited to see what he does this year."

If the A's end up sneaking up on some teams this season, you can't say you weren't warned.