Updated outlooks on injured A's: Lawrence, Gelof and more

While the offseason is now underway for the Athletics, a few players will be hard at work recovering from surgeries throughout the winter.

Lawrence Butler, Zack Gelof and Brett Harris each underwent surgery at the end of or shortly after the season. Luis Medina, meanwhile, ended the year in the final stages of his rehab from Tommy John surgery.

Here’s a look at each player’s injury outlook and expectations for next season:

RF Lawrence Butler

A few days after the season came to a close, A’s general manager David Forst revealed that Butler had been playing through a patellar tendon strain in his right knee over the final two weeks of September. After consulting with a couple of knee specialists, Butler underwent a procedure on Oct. 3 in Los Angeles to repair a partial tendon tear and debridement of chronic scar tissue. He also received a PRP injection into his left patellar tendon to address chronic tendonitis.

Though the exact timeline for a full recovery is unclear, the A’s are hopeful a full offseason will provide ample enough time for the 25-year-old outfielder to be ready for Spring Training.

Butler went through an up-and-down ‘25 campaign on the heels of signing a seven-year, $65.5 million contract extension in March. Still, he joined Coco Crisp as only the second A’s player to record a 20-homer, 20-steal season over the last 32 years. As long as he’s healthy, Butler is the team’s everyday right fielder.

“There was a higher level of expectation put on himself,” manager Mark Kotsay said of Butler. “We had several conversations throughout April and May about that being an issue and outwardly showing the emotion. Trying to communicate to him that, regardless of the contract and what you accomplished, the game is really hard. I think he started to understand that a little bit more moving forward.

“David and I talked about Lawrence at the end of the season with Lawrence because David and I had a lot of conversations through April and May and into June on Lawrence Butler. Then, we had zero conversations after that. So, it says a lot about the maturity and growth in the season that ended up turning around for him, and I was really pleased by that.”

2B Zack Gelof

Halfway through the 2023 season, Gelof received his first call to the big leagues and broke out as one of MLB’s more exciting rookies that year, looking the part of a potential franchise cornerstone for the A’s. At that time, nobody could have predicted how his next two years would play out.

Since that ‘23 campaign, Gelof has nearly as many games missed as games played. When healthy, his numbers have been a far cry from what he showed as a dynamic rookie. Limited to 30 Major League games this season, Gelof hit just .174 with a .530 OPS before dislocating his left shoulder while diving for a ground ball in Pittsburgh on Sept. 19.

Gelof underwent surgery on Sept. 24 in Los Angeles to repair the anterior labral-capsule in his left shoulder, and though there should be enough time to recover from now until Spring Training, his status as the A’s starting second baseman does not appear as stable as it once was.

“The important part is about Zack being healthy,” Forst said. “He really hasn’t been since he debuted in ‘23. He had surgery and has a long rehab ahead of him this offseason, and we’ll have to wait further in the offseason to know exactly what his timeline is. I think we have to be open to a lot of possibilities at both [second base and third base].”

3B Brett Harris

Harris, who performed well in his limited big league time this year by batting .274 in 32 games while also providing strong defense at third, underwent left thumb surgery in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The A’s expect him to be ready for Spring Training, where he could find himself in a battle for the third base job.

RHP Luis Medina

After undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2024, Medina spent all of ‘25 rehabbing and progressed to throwing bullpens in late September. This puts him on track to be healthy for Spring Training, where the A’s will determine whether Medina and his high-90s fastball are best suited for a starting or relief role.

“There’ll be some limitation next season on the innings,” Kotsay said. “That’ll be a conversation we have going forward as to where he can impact our club. He’s done the starting pitching for us. He’s also pitched out of the bullpen. We’ll have to see where we feel he can have the biggest impact for our club.”