Athletics

Rooker victimized Rangers’ right-hander Cal Quantrill throughout this one. He smacked an RBI single in the first inning to open the scoring in the ballgame then clobbered a 406-foot (101.8 mph EV) two-run shot in the second that extended the A’s advantage to 6-0. He then flew out to center in the fifth before calling it a day. The 31-year-old slugger has eclipsed the 30-homer plateau in three consecutive seasons and looks poised to do so again entering 2026.

Soderstrom smacked a one-out single off of Cal Quantrill in the first inning then came around to score on an RBI double by Jeff McNeil. He then added to their lead with a two-run single in the second before trotting home on Brent Rooker’s two-run blast. Soderstrom finished the day 2-for-3 and is off to a 3-for-7 (.429) start to the spring season.

McNeil laced a one-out double into the right field corner off of Cal Quantrill in the opening inning that extended the A’s early advantage to 2-0. He also drew a walk and lined out to second base in the ballgame, finishing the afternoon 1-for-2. McNeil batted fifth once again for the A’s in this one and that could be the regular spot that he’s featured in to start the season, increasing his upside for counting stats.

Perkins retired all six of the Rangers’ hitters that he faced, including a punchout of Joc Pederson in the opening inning. He got just two swings and misses on 30 pitches in the contest, registering an uninspiring CSW of only 13 percent. It was a nice bounce back effort or the 26-year-old hurler though, who surrendered a couple of runs and didn’t make it out of the first inning his last time out. He’s competing for one of the final spots in the A’s Opening Day rotation.

Sherman received “no word on the likelihood of getting it to the finish line” from his sources, but this fits the A’s pattern of locking up their pre-arbitration players to long-term contracts. Kurtz slashed a sublime .290/.383/.619 in 489 plate appearances last year and is one of the first fantasy first basemen off the board in all formats this year. It would probably take a pretty hefty offer to get Kurtz to sign a long-term extension after that sort of powerhouse season.

Barlow never even touched 90 mph on the gun today, with his average fastball coming in at 88.7 mph. That’s down 3.6 mph from last year. Of course, Barlow did sign late, and he’s a veteran who knows what he has to do to get ready for the season. Still, a bad spring will probably drop him down the depth chart some in an Athletics pen with no clear closer.

Jump cemented his status as one of the top pitching prospects in baseball by compiling a stellar 3.28 ERA and 131/34 K/BB ratio across 112 2/3 innings between Double-A Midland and High-A Lansing last year in his professional debut. The 22-year-old southpaw has a chance to reach the big leagues later this year and should miss enough bats to provide an instant fantasy impact.

Ginn appears to be on the outside looking in when it comes to the Athletics’ season-opening rotation, barring an unexpected development. He could potentially make the club’s Opening Day roster as a versatile swingman but that diminished role wouldn’t make him fantasy-relevant outside of AL-only formats.

Severino averaged 96.9 mph with his four-seamer today, up 0.8 mph from last year, and his secondary pitchers were up even a bit more. Maybe it won’t last, but some extra velocity could be big for a veteran coming off a career-worst 17.6 percent strikeout rate.

In what doesn’t seem like a great sign, Morales was the Athletics’ fifth pitcher of the game, coming into to start the fifth. Although he was far and away the most effective of the Athletics’ 10 pitchers to start at least five games last year, Morales doesn’t appear to be promised anything at this point, and he probably didn’t help the cause today with his fastball down one mph from last year and his secondary pitches down 2-4 mph.