Langeliers homers for 2nd straight day as power surge continues

SEATTLE – For as impressive a start to the season as Shea Langeliers is off to, his one bugaboo, somewhat surprisingly, has been struggles facing left-handers, entering the day hitting .190 vs. southpaws after batting .367 against them last year.

As he showed Tuesday, though, it’s much too early to read into splits. Righty or lefty, if Langeliers is up in a big spot, the Athletics have come to expect him to come through. He did just that in the seventh inning against lefty Gabe Speier, launching a Statcast-projected 417-foot solo shot into the seats just to the right of center field at T-Mobile Park to provide the A’s some breathing room in an eventual 5-2 victory.

“That was a big at-bat,” manager Mark Kotsay said. “Any time you can add on to a lead, that gives the relievers a little more cushion and they can afford to make a mistake.”

Homering for a second straight day, Langeliers is now up to eight home runs for the season, tied for fourth-most in MLB.

When it comes to franchise history, Langeliers’ eight big files rank second among A’s players who have primarily played catcher through the team’s first 24 games of a season.

That quirky caveat is necessary here, because the record belongs to Hall of Famer Jimmie Foxx, a first baseman for most of his illustrious career who hit nine home runs while catching in 23 of the first 24 games of the 1935 season for the Philadelphia A’s before going back to playing mostly first the rest of the year.

Playing in the house where Cal Raleigh emerged as the top catcher in baseball last year, the A’s slugging backstop continues to statistically perform as the top catcher in MLB so far in ‘26. Langeliers leads all catchers (min. 80 at-bats) in homers, batting average (.312), on-base percentage (.379), slugging (.613) and OPS (.992).

Langeliers isn’t just getting it done with the bat, either. His pitchers consistently rave about his abilities behind the dish. On Tuesday night, he backhanded a pitch low in the zone from starter Jacob Lopez and fired an 85.3 mph dart to second base to nab Cole Young for the second out of the fourth.

For the season, Langeliers has also been much more effective at blocking pitches, ranking in the 97th percentile of all Major League catchers in Blocks Above Average after he sat in the 45th percentile of that category in ‘25.

“He’s been great,” said Lopez, who earned the win after limiting Seattle to two runs on seven hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings. “He’s playing almost every game. What he does for the pitching staff, his pitch calling has been great. And his bat is one of the best in the league.”

Make no mistake, that bat is still Langeliers’ standout trait. He’s evolved from a power-hitting catcher who racked up high strikeout totals and low batting averages earlier in his career into a true complete hitter.

After going 2-for-4 on Tuesday, Langeliers has now reached base safely in 12 of his last 13 games, hitting .340 (18-for-53) with four doubles, three homers, seven walks and six RBIs over that stretch.

The key to such consistency?

“It’s one of those things where you’re just checking the boxes,” Langeliers said. “Show up to the field every day and do my routine. Mentally, understanding that I’ve done everything to prepare for the game. And then the game is the game. You just go out there, compete, leave it out on the field and come back in and wash it.

“Whether it’s good or bad, move on to the next day. So, it’s just being very routine-oriented.”

There’s consistency all around as of late for these first-place A’s (13-11), who secured a series win over their American League West foes thanks to another game in which they received timely hits late and saw the bullpen shut it down once again, this time with Jack Perkins closing it out with a scoreless final two innings for his first save of the year.

Securing at least a series win with a chance for a sweep Wednesday afternoon, the A’s have quickly erased the bad taste from a series loss to the White Sox at home over the weekend.

“Good start to the road trip,” Kotsay said. “We’ve still got a long way to go. But coming off the series with Chicago, this club came in here focused and prepared.”