MESA, Ariz. -- An emphasis for the A’s this offseason was improving a subpar offense that ranked last in the Majors in most categories last season. Early on in spring, the results are promising.

Entering Wednesday’s exhibition game against Team Colombia, the A’s led all of Spring Training with a total of 71 walks through 12 Cactus League games. Their team on-base percentage of .384 was also second highest among all Major League teams, demonstrating a type of plate awareness that was severely lacking in 2022.

“The zone discipline has been a big improvement from last year to this year,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “It is a different roster. We have brought on some guys that have historically done a better job with that in their careers. I think that’s kind of feeding over to some of the guys who were on the roster last year.”

High on-base skills were a theme among the A’s acquisitions over the winter. Free agent signing Jace Peterson posted a .338 OBP over his past three seasons with the Brewers, while Ryan Noda, whom the club selected in the Rule 5 Draft, carries a career .407 OBP across five Minor League seasons. Noda and Peterson entered Wednesday with five walks each, tied for third-most on the team this spring.

Kotsay also singled out Aledmys Díaz, another offseason free-agent signing, for the early impact he’s made on the offense. Through five spring games, the veteran utility infielder was slashing .462/.563/.538 with a double and four RBIs. More importantly, he’s working counts and getting on base in a multitude of ways.

“He’s one of our better professional hitters,” Kotsay said of Díaz. “He gets 3-2 pitch and hits it between the hole. … It’s nice to have someone in the lineup that can do multiple things, whether it’s taking a walk, drive a guy in or hit a homer.”

It’s obviously still a small sample size, and the regular season will truly be where the A’s prove whether or not this offense is indeed in a better state than last year’s form. But if this first look is any indication, the A’s are optimistic that the offensive numbers will look a lot better in 2023, which in turn will lead to more wins and a big step forward in their current rebuilding process.

“The emphasis is score runs,” Kotsay said. “The walks lead to that. They help create offense. It’s something that we’ve talked about. Walks, to me, are a product of an aggressive mentality with the mentality to determine pitch selection. We don’t want to take away from the aggressiveness we measure, but the walks in Spring Training so far have been great.”