Five Reasons To Be Excited For The 2019 Oakland A’s

Coming into the beginning of last season, most of the baseball world had written the Oakland Athletics off before they even tossed their first pitch on Opening Day.

Fast forward to today, the 2019 Oakland Athletics are looking to build off of an incredible 2018 campaign that saw them end a three-season playoff drought. Fresh off of a 97-win season, their most since the 2002 “Moneyball” year, Oakland will aim to not only make the postseason, but advance and compete for much more than just a playoff berth.

The A’s are no longer an afterthought, and will look to dethrone the AL West champion Houston Astros. Here are five reasons why you should be excited for the 2019 Athletics.

Matt Chapman wins American League Rawlings Platinum Glove Award.

☑️ Rawlings Platinum Glove
☑️ Rawlings Gold Glove
☑️ Wilson Defensive Player of the Year

Details: https://t.co/HIIoh9vIDq pic.twitter.com/zEaHntA8mF

— AthleticsPR (@AthleticsPR) November 10, 2018

Matt Chapman

Manning the hot-corner, Chapman had an incredible sophomore season in 2018.

Ranking first among infielders and seventh in all of baseball in wins above replacement, Chapman claimed a Gold Glove, Platinum Glove, and garnered Wilson Defensive Player of the year honors. On top of his stellar defensive play, Chapman had a strong year at the plate as he hit .278 with 24 home runs and 68 runs batted in. Chapman is incredibly valuable to the success of this A’s team, placing 7th in the 2018 American League MVP voting.

Blake Treinen

In his second season in Oakland, Treinen made a massive leap.

Closing out games for the A’s, the first-time AL All-Star went 9-2 with a 0.78 ERA, the lowest of any closer in baseball. Treinen was a dominant force, striking out 100 batters over 80.1 innings pitched. Averaging 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings pitched, batters struggled against the Oakland closer, batting .158 when facing Treinen.

The Outfield

If one thing is for sure, it is that the 2019 Oakland A’s  will not be shorthanded in the oufield this season.

Nick Martini, Ramon Laureano, Stephen Piscotty, Mark Canha, Dustin Fowler and Robbie Grossman will all look to man the outfield for the A’s this season. Piscotty had a solid 2018 campaign with career highs in home runs (27) and RBI (88). Laureano showed off his defensive skills last season when he had arguably the greatest outfield assist of the season. The A’s will have tons of outfield options this season, which will help them versatility wise incase of injuries throughout the season.

Matt Olson

The A’s corners of the infield are golden.

The other Matt in the infield claimed his first Gold Glove at first base in 2018, almost winning the Platinum Glove before being beat out by teammate Matt Chapman. Olson played all 162 games for the Athletics and hit 29 home runs while driving in 84 runs. Olson, heading into his age 25 season, is the face of the Athletics youth movement with Chapman as they will look to man the corners for years to come.

Khris Davis

Krush!

For the third straight season, Davis hit .247 on the nose with over 40 home runs and over 100 runs batted in. Davis led the league in home runs (48) and was second in the league in runs batted in (123). Coming into the last year of his contract, expect Krush to continue destroying the ball to add to his league leading 133 home runs over the past three seasons. Davis led an Oakland team that hit 227 home runs, third in all of baseball.

Expect this team to use the long ball, and use it often.

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