Athletics

The A’s pushed a pair of runs across against Alek Manoah in the second as Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers each drew walks with the bases loaded. That prompted a pitching change to Aneurys Zabala. Soderstrom got ahead in the count 2-0 and then unleashed the fury with a blast to right-center that increased the A’s lead to 6-0. He finished the day 1-for-2 plus a walk. For the spring, the 24-year-old slugger is slashing a monstrous .450/.500/.800 with two homers and eight RBI in his first 20 at-bats.

Rooker followed Tyler Soderstrom’s grand slam in the second inning with a solo shot off of Aneurys Zabala that increased the A’s lead to 7-0. He then added a ground rule double in the third inning. The 31-year-old is having a nice spring thus far, hitting .316 (6-for-19) with a pair of long balls and four RBI.

The right-hander issued three walks on the day while punching out four. Despite the constant traffic on the basepaths, Morales was able to hold the Angels to just two runs — on a sacrifice fly by Zach Neto in the third inning and an RBI double from Bryce Teodosio in the fourth. The 23-year-old induced five swings and misses on 65 pitches in the contest, posting a CSW of just 20 percent. He’s tentatively expected to earn a spot in the A’s Opening Day rotation, but he’ll need to be better than this to make it happen.

Murray remains, at least theoretically, a two-sport question mark. Forst reiterated Wednesday that while Murray is firmly established as an elite NFL quarterback, the organization would be open to a return to baseball should he ever choose to revisit that path. The 28-year-old former ninth overall pick in the 2018 MLB Draft is poised to hit free agency when the NFL league year opens next week following seven seasons with the Arizona Cardinals, and the Athletics still hold his baseball rights. The expectation is that Murray continues his football career — logical trajectory and financial considerations both point that direction. He wouldn’t be the first elite athlete to pivot mid-career — and history suggests the idea feels impossible right up until it happens. It wouldn’t be unprecedented — just completely unexpected.

It was a nice bounce-back for Springs after getting lit up for four runs over 1 2/3 frames by the Royals in his spring debut last Friday. The 33-year-old southpaw doesn’t offer a ton of appeal pitching in the hitter’s paradise that is Sutter Health Park, but there’s enough strikeout upside to be impactful in road outings against weaker lineups.

Severino predicably struggled in his Athletics debut last year while pitching in extremely hitter-friendly Sutter Health Park, finishing with a bloated 4.54 ERA – 4.59 xERA – 1.30 WHIP and 124/50 K/BB ratio across 162 2/3 innings. He can be safely left on the waiver wire at the outset of the season in most fantasy leagues.

McNeil lifted a Bo Takahashi pitched 401 feet out to right field. He was hitting second in the exhibition today, but it doesn’t seem likely that he’ll bat any higher than sixth at the beginning of the regular season. He still could offer value in deeper mixed leagues while getting a boost from the switch from Citi Field to Sutter Health Park.

Civale’s velocity was down 2-3 mph from last year’s norms, as he topped out at 90.4 mph today. He’s virtually assured of a spot in the Athletics’ rotation after signing for $6 million last month, but he figures to have a tough time this season as a flyball pitcher in a very hitter friendly ballpark.

Soderstrom took Padres ace Michael King deep in the opening frame for his first big fly of the spring exhibition season. It traveled an estimated 410 feet and left his bat at 113.3 mph, per Statcast. The 24-year-old former backstop signed a seven-year, $86 million contract extension during the offseason and will be an integral run-producing component of an Athletics core that is one of the more exciting young nucleuses in baseball.

Langeliers has hit first, second, fifth and third in his four starts over the last week. The last two of those came with Jacob Wilson leading off, which seems to be the big question in the Athletics’ lineup at the moment. If Wilson hits lower in the order, Langeliers would probably bat second behind Nick Kurtz in the leadoff spot. If Wilson leads off, then Langeliers might bat fifth against righties, with Tyler Soderstrom occupying the cleanup spot.