Carlos

Cortes

Cortes provided one of only two runs the A’s could score against José Soriano on Tuesday, taking him deep for a solo home run in the fourth inning. The 29-year-old outfielder is hitting .261/.328/.405 with nine homers and 40 RBI across 341 plate appearances.

Clarke has now been off the injured list for two games and has started in center field for both of them. We should note that both of them have been against left-handed pitchers, which means Carlos Cortes was always going to be on the bench for both of these games. It remains to be seen what the Athletics do against a righty, but Zack Gelof has been playing left field, and Henry Bolte has been at designated hitter, which likely means Bolte and Cortes are battling for at-bats against right-handed pitchers.

Clarke is finally back 4 1/2 months after suffering a right foot bone bruise and nearly 3 1/2 months since he strained a hamstring on his initial rehab assignment. He just hit .353 with two homers in 11 games for Triple-A Las Vegas, and he should finish out the season as the Athletics’ primary center fielder. Henry Bolte can slide over to left, giving the A’s maybe the game’s best defensive outfield. Carlos Cortes will likely spend more time at DH, taking at-bats away from Max Muncy.

Cortes put the A’s on the board with a two-run blast off Taj Bradley in the second inning, breaking a run of eight games without an extra-base hit. The 29-year-old outfielder is up to eight homers and 37 RBI while hitting a respectable .258/.332/.407 across 310 plate appearances. He should continue to see regular playing time in left field against right-handed pitching.

Clarke was working his way back from a foot injury when he hurt his hamstring in late May. He returned to the field on August 18 and has since gone 6-for-13 with one home run, five RBI, and a 3/4 K/BB ratio. He has not yet attempted a steal, which would be nice to see to verify the health of his hamstring, but there is a chance that Clarke can return to center field for the Athletics by the end of the week, which would push Henry Bolte to a corner outfield spot and may cost Carlos Cortes playing time.

Soderstrom receives his first day off since July 12. The 24-year-old corner outfielder is hitting .258 (23-for-89) with five homers, 14 RBI and one steal in 23 games since last month’s All-Star break. It’ll be Zack Gelof taking over in left field with Carlos Cortes taking a turn at DH.

Bolte has been a fixture in center field since his arrival in the big leagues, so he’ll get a hard-earned day off in this one. Lawrence Butler will slide over to take his place in center with Carlos Cortes starting in right field and batting eighth for the A’s against Sonny Gray and the Red Sox on Thursday evening in West Sacramento.

Soderstrom landed on the 10-day injured list with a left hip impingement on Jun 29th, and the expectation remains that he will return after the All-Star break. However, we’ll need to see him resume some activities this week before we can be confident he will return right after the break. In the meantime, Carlos Cortes will continue to start against right-handed pitchers, with Colby Thomas starting against lefties. The Athletics will see three lefties in their next six games.

Cortes got off to a stunning start to force the A’s to play against righties, but his OPS has gone from 1.128 in April to .738 in May to .352 in 47 plate appearances in June. With Lawrence Butler having overtaken him on the depth chart, he might be a candidate for demotion once Brent Rooker returns.

Cortes continues to receive opportunities atop the Athletics’ lineup against right-handed starters. He was moved to the top of the order back in mid-May and hasn’t looked back, hitting .273 (9-for-33) with one homer and a 4/10 K/BB ratio in 11 games since May 18.