A's Third Base Battle Will Determine Numerous Player's Futures with Franchise
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With the A's trading for Jeff McNeil, they seem to have taken care of second base for the 2026 season. That leaves third base as the only glaring hole offensively on this club, and the reporting since the McNeil addition has been that the A's will be looking internally to find someone at the hot corner.
As of right now, there are three, or perhaps four players that could be in the mix at third when spring training begins. Today, let's take a look at each of the four candidates, and provide odds for them being the starting third baseman on Opening Day.
The four candidates up for the role right now are Max Muncy, Brett Harris, Darell Hernaiz, and potentially Zack Gelof. With the addition of McNeil, Gelof is no longer a leading candidate for a role on the club, and in order to be used on the roster in a regular capacity, he's likely going to have to add some versatility to his defensive mix.
Zack Gelof, third baseman?
Second base is the only position Gelof has been asked to play in the big leagues, but he made it into 26 games at third in 2022 with the Double-A Midland RockHounds. Overall, he's played 60 games there in the minors, so he has some experience, but not as much as some of the other candidates involved in this competition.
The one problem with this potential plan could be that his arm strength has never graded out well, peaking in the 12th percentile during his debut season back in 2023. The obvious question would be whether he could be relied upon to make those throws across the diamond consistently, especially after a dislocated shoulder ended his season and he needed surgery in September.
On top of the defensive questions, there is also the very real question about his bat. After a breakout debut campaign in 2023, he struggled mightily in 2024, striking out 34.4% of the time. Among qualified hitters, that was the highest strikeout rate in the big leagues.
Gelof entered 2025 looking to bounce back, but a late spring injury kept him out of action early, and the injury bug just followed him around all season. When he was on the field in Sacramento, he ended up striking out 45.5% of the time while batting .174 with a .230 OBP. It's hard to expect great numbers after he'd spent months rehabbing, but these were still underwhelming.
This all said, it's hard to know what to expect from him moving forward, either. Not only is he likely to have to learn a new position, but he'll also have to show some drastic improvement with the bat. He'll have an opportunity at some point, but that may not be on Opening Day, due to his own injury status and how camp shakes out.
Odds for Opening Day: 10%
Max Muncy
Like Gelof, Muncy has been injured a bit the past two seasons, but he also has some experience at third base in the big leagues. Overall, he ended up batting .214 with a .259 OBP and a 72 wRC+ (100 is league average), which isn't great. He mashed nine homers, walked just 4.5% of the time, and struck out 30.9% of the time. Again, not great numbers.
On the bright side, he did see improvement each month that he was with the A's. He started off rough, batting just .176 in March and April, and was ultimately optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas on April 23. He returned to Sacramento in early June, and was a much better offensive player, batting .225 with a .284 OBP, though his strikeout rate peaked at 33%.
In July he continued that progression, batting .250 while holding a 119 wRC+ across 14 games before he suffered a broken right hand. He was just beginning to show some of his potential, before his season more or less ended in July. He'd return in late September and made it into six games down the stretch.
Muncy was decent defensively at third base, racking up a -2 OAA, but an all-even 0 DRS. His arm ranked in the 43rd percentile overall, so he has a leg up on Gelof in that regard. He's also a bit of a wild-card for the A's. They know what he was beginning to show before his injury, but he hasn't shown what his peak may be.
There may be plenty of growth left with Muncy in 2026. With a good spring, he could be the favorite to take over at third base, and he could have the highest ceiling in this group of four.
Odds for Opening Day: 40%
Darell Hernaiz
Hernaiz is an interesting case for the A's, as he represents a bit of a middle ground skillset for the green and gold. Across 51 games and 197 plate appearances mostly in August and September, he ended up batting .231 with a .292 OBP and a suboptimal 65 wRC+. He doesn't have the power potential that Muncy does, but he has a better glove.
Defense has been preached as a focal point for the club over the past two seasons, and is a big potential area of growth for the franchise as they have ranked in the bottom-third of the league in team defense each season since 2023. Hernaiz represents a potential upgrade there.
He also strikes out the least out of any of the options, holding a 12.2% strikeout rate this past season. In addition, he held just a .250 BABIP in that span, which seems to indicate that he was a little unlucky.
When asked about players that took a step forward this past season, both A's GM David Forst and manager Mark Kotsay mentioned the strides that Hernaiz took over the course of the 2025 season. He was battling in the box and making pitchers work, which is something that doesn't show up in the box score, but can have a huge impact on the game.
The big question with him isn't necessarily who he is, but rather, what type of player the A's envision at third base. Hernaiz is a mix between a guy with decent potential at the plate, though not a ton of power, that also offers some speed for the roster. He also brings terrific defense along with him. Both Hernaiz and Muncy are natural shortstops.
Odds for Opening Day: 35%
Brett Harris
Harris offers the Athletics yet another type of player to put at third base, and that's the one with the best glove of the bunch. In just 183 2/3 innings at third base for the A's this past season, he put up a +5 DRS and a +2 OAA. In other words, he was stellar with the glove in a limited opportunity.
While he ended up hitting .274 with a .349 OBP, he also ran up a .377 BABIP in his 84 plate appearances with the A's, which means there was likely some luck involved in that production. That said, he only struck out 25% of the time and his best skill at the dish is that he doesn't chase the ball outside of the zone, holding a chase rate of 22.7%.
The downside of his game is that he doesn't square the ball up a ton. His average exit velocity was just 83.3 miles per hour this past season, and even in a slightly larger sample the previous season it was still plenty below league average at 87.4%. Hernaiz made slightly better contact with an exit velo of 85 miles per hour this past season.
The A's were already a top-10 offense in the game last season, and they've added McNeil headed into 2026. They don't necessarily need a bat-first option at third base, and could instead choose to lean on Harris' glove to help the team in other ways.
So they have Muncy, the bat-first player, Harris with the glove, or Hernaiz who blends the two and was having solid ABs in limited action in 2025. There's also Gelof, who could be in play. This spring is certainly going to be interesting, because with top prospect Leo De Vries also on the way, there won't be roster spots for all of these guys for very long.
Harris' odds for Opening Day: 15%
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Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.
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