A's JJ Bleday provides bright spot in loss

While the Oakland A's 8-0 loss to the Cleveland Guardians on Thursday night wasn't what many were hoping for to begin the season, centerfielder JJ Bleday provided a nice bright spot in defeat.

On Monday night, manager Mark Kotsay was asked which player's process he was most impressed with during spring training. He singled out Bleday. "When we went into the offseason, we kind of talked to him about the work in the weight room and really pushing himself to a point that maybe he hadn't in his past and then he came back and he's really changed some of those things that he does on a daily basis. The work in the gym has really been elevated. And I think you're seeing the results of that, he's a little more physical this year for sure."

This spring Bleday went 16-for-46 (.348) with a pair of homers, three doubles, a triple, five walks, and just seven strikeouts. On Thursday night he got the start in center and was batting third in the lineup behind on-base machine Ryan Noda and face-of-the-franchise Zack Gelof. If things break right for the A's this season, that trio will play a large role in the team sneaking up on some people.

Bleday said before the opener that his goal this offseason was to find something mechanically with his swing that he would stick to on a daily basis. After some tinkering, he found something he liked, and took it into spring training.

The 26-year-old left-hander also said that Kotsay was having them buy into going the other way at the plate and using the whole field. "We don't have six to eight guys that are going to hit 30 homers, so we got to do our best to score more runs than the other team. That comes with executing approach, knowing situational hitting, and doing our best to kind of fight through and control the first part of the swing. That's what Darren Bush and Kots have preached, and I think we've all bought into it."

In the opener, Bleday reached base three times in four at-bats, going 2-for-4 with a single and a double--both to the opposite field. He also reached on an error on a broken bat grounder up the middle that hit the mound. The shortstop fielded it, threw low, and first baseman Josh Naylor was unable to hang on.

Typically when you're looking for someone that has the potential for a big season, you look for huge exit velocities, like Brent Rooker showed early in 2023. Last night Bleday had a single at 70.7 miles per hour and a double at 69.9 mph. The hardest ball he hit was the one that broke his bat, and even that was 83 mph.

This is obviously just one game of 162, but process is important in this game, and it looks as though Bleday has changed some things with his approach this year that could lead to some noticeable gains in 2024.