Laureano has Laser-Like Focus on World Series

Ramon Laureano has played little more than one full season in the Major Leagues, but he sees the Athletics as having one goal this season. That's playing all the way through October.

For someone who is such a critical part of both the Oakland A’s offense and defense, Ramon Laureano actually hasn’t played that much in the majors.

Acquired from the Houston Astros in a little-noticed minor league deal about two weeks before the Winter Meetings in 2017, the Dominican-born outfielder didn’t come up until the final two months of the 2018 season.

And he missed five weeks, including the entire month of August, last year with a shin injury, which is one of the reasons Mark Canha got the opportunity to show he could play a capable center fielder down the stretch of the 2019 season.

Nicknamed Laser or Razor, depending on who is doing the talking. Laureano is known for a big arm that has forced opposing base runners to stop taking extra bases. He’s got a big bat, too, with 24 homers last year in just 123 games last season.

The thing is, having played in only 171 big league games and having been let go by the Astros for essentially nothing, it’s a little surprising that Laureano has become such a key member of the A’s so quickly.

So, you can believe it that he’s speaking for all his teammates when he says “We have just one goal this year.”

That goal?

“We want to win a World Series,” he told the A’s media Thursday. “And that’s it. It’s pretty simple. That’s it.”

When the A's got off to an 0-5 start to the spring, Laureano was shaking his head. But his confidence wasn't shaken. 

""Everybody was talking like we weren't starting on the right foot, but it's still spring training," he said. "And then we were 8-6, like right away. Everybody feels fresh and ready to start the season."

He seems to love being with this group of athletes. He said Thursday that his favorite parts of spring training are working on improving “my weaknesses from last year” and “just hanging out with the guys.”

He doesn’t have many weaknesses, but he’d like to pump up his on-base percentage after having drawn just 43 walks in those first 171 games.

He still chases too many pitches out of the strike zone, being particularly susceptible to being pitched away. He’s trying to lay off those with the idea that while it might cost him a few called strikes, there may be a few more ball four calls mixed in.

The idea entering the spring was that Laureano would land in center, with Canha moving back to left field and Stephen Piscotty playing in right. With Piscotty sidelined and his status for opening day not known, it's possible Laureano will start the season as the A's right fielder.