2020 Oakland Athletics Preview – MLB Preview & Prediction
Oakland is one team that would like to showcase that the team can compete and come back better than before. However, an issue for the Athletics would be the fact that the bullpen is good, but has question markers. The starters for the Athletics as well is going to be a major question mark as only couple of the starters are proven to do good, but the Athletics could have some problems that cost them some games this year and beyond.
Oakland Athletics Starters
Staff ace Sean Manaea may have to carry a large load this year for the Athletics as the rest of the rotation has had some questionable spots and Mike Fiers can pitch great one night and then the next look like he needs to go back to the minors. The rest of the rotation is Frankie Montas, Jesus Luzardo and A.J. Puk. Last year Manaea had a short year with 5 starts with 29.2 innings pitched. Manaea did end up getting 30 strikeouts and posted a 4-0 record with a 1.21 ERA.
Oakland Athletics Relievers
With the Athletics the bullpen can go either way with some good players in the pen, but some question marks at positions the Athletics do not really want those marks at. The pen is slated to have Yusmeiro Petit, Joakim Soria, Lou Trivino, Jake Diekman and J.B. Wendelken. The closer for the Athletics is Liam Hendriks. Hendriks last season threw in 75 games with 2 starts for a total of 85 innings pitched. He did strike out 124 batters while posting a 4-4 record and recording 25 saves with 7 blown saves, but was great with a 1.80 ERA.
Oakland Athletics Catchers
The catching position for the Athletics looks fairly solid with Sean Murphy at the starting position. He is slated to be backed up by Austin Allen and Jonah Heim at third in the depth chart. Last season Murphy played in 20 games and hit at a clip of .245 with 4 homers and 8 RBIs. Murphy on the defensive side of the ball threw out 33.3% of the runners.
Oakland Athletics Corners
The corners are looking fairly solid for the Athletics. Matt Olson is slated to start at first and Matt Chapman at third base. The backups for the Athletics is Mark Canha at first and Chad Pinder at third. Last season Olson played in a total of 127 games for the Athletics with an average of .267 with 36 homers and 91 runs batted in. The other side of the triangle was handled by Chapman who played in 156 games with a .249 average and cranked 36 homers with 91 runners brought home.
Oakland Athletics Middle Infield
In the middle the Athletics are coming back fairly intact as well. Second will be manned by Franklin Barreto at second and Marcus Semien at short. Tony Kemp is slated to back up at second and at short the Athletics are supposed to have Jorge Mateo backing up the position. Last season Barreto for the Athletics played in only 23 games and hit at a clip .123 with 2 homers and 5 RBIs. Semien ended up playing in 162 games for the Athletics last season and ended up hitting at a clip of .285 with 33 homers and brought home 92 runners.
Oakland Athletics Outfield
The outfield for the Athletics could be good, but the Athletics are missing some of the big name pop like the Angels and Astros have. The depth for the Athletics in the outfield could be questionable to. The Oakland team has Mark Canha starting in left, Ramon Laureano in center, and Stephen Piscotty in right. The backups for the Athletics in left is Robbie Grossman with Mark Canha in center and Laureano backing up in right. Last season Canha played in 126 games while hitting at a clip of .273 with 26 homers and 58 runners brought home. Laureano played in 123 games while hitting at a clip of .288 with 24 homers and 67 RBIs. Last year Piscotty ended up playing 93 games while getting a clip of .249 while getting 13 homers and 44 RBIs.
Oakland Athletics Designated Hitter
When it comes to the designated hitter the Athletics are lucky by removing a potential defensive liability in Khris Davis. Last season Davis ended up playing in a total of 133 games while hitting at a clip of .220 on the season and hitting 23 homers while getting 73 runners brought home.
Oakland Athletics Prediction
This year the Athletics are one team that should be able to compete to a point. The downside is the Athletics will do what they normally do and that means play good for a little bit, but fizzle out as the season wears on. A lot of that stems from the fact that the pitching staff will be fatigued for some reason and the hitters just cannot hit for average at all. Those problems and the lack of consistent contact on the ball is a disaster waiting to happen.
