Langeliers The Gift That Keeps On Giving (To Opposing Teams)

We all want Shea Langeliers to be great. First off he’s our #1 catcher whether we like it or not, plus he’s one of the returns from an important trade: Matt Olson to the Braves in the 2022 off-season.

The good news is, Langeliers offers two strengths that are highly visible — ones which, in fact, help to obscure his many faults. Langeliers has undeniable HR power, having clocked 22 HR in his 2023 rookie season with 21 HR this year and counting. He also has a great arm behind the plate, with pop times, arm strength, and accuracy that help make him a legitimate threat as a throwing catcher.

The bad news is that Langeliers is bad at almost everything else and it shows up on a daily basis. He is a low batting average, low OBP hitter whose framing skills, while improving a bit, are terrible and whose technique at saving would-be wild pitches is even worse.

A few thoughts as the Eyeball Scout trashes the catcher he wishes he could love...

Batting Order Fail

This is more of a referendum on Mark Kotsay but under no circumstances should Langeliers be batting 5th. This is a guy who is batting .207 with a .271 OBP, with career marks now of .208 and .268.

Shea consistently comes up with runners on base because he is batting ahead of the A’s most accomplished hitters (Miguel Andujar, JJ Bleday, Brent Rooker, who follow the recently torrid Lawrence Butler).

Last night was particularly frustrating because SP Jonathan Cannon kept hanging sliders over the middle of the plate to Langeliers which he fouled back (and once, later, flied to LF). But when you keep sending up a hitter with “2 on and 2 out...” you are going to be generally disappointed if the choice is a batter who gets hits barely 20% of the time and reaches base less than 30%.

A better batting order with the same 9 would elevate the contact-oriented and on base inclined Max Schuemann to the 5-spot, which would be lauded by “The Book” and its push for a “second lead-off hitter” batting 5th. A smarter order would look something like:

Butler - RF
Andujar - LF
Bleday - CF
Rooker - DH
Schuemann - SS
Toro - 3B
Langeliers - C
Brown - 1B
Gelof - 2B

Back to the whipping boy at hand, among his many flaws Langeliers is just not a middle of the order threat. He’s a bottom of the order hitter who is “dangerous” because he will “run into one” every 5 games or so. But in between the bombs, at the plate he generally, well, bombs.

Blocking Technique

On display yet again last night was how many bases, and runs, Langeliers costs the A’s by not moving his body to track errant pitches. With Michel Otañez on the mound exhibiting great stuff, a runner at 3B and 2 outs, you would think the focus would be on “anything but a wild pitch” since that was the way the White Sox were most likely to score in that moment.

So Langeliers not only calls for a chase slider, which Otañez bounces, but as he so often does Shea doesn’t turn the glove or use his body as a shield, opting instead to try to smother it to death like an irritated baby-sitter (ok maybe I didn’t have the best care as a child).

That pitch was right in front of Langeliers, but heaven forbid a pitch be thrown a bit to the side. Where most catches slide over to try to block with their body, Langeliers almost always reaches and stabs at the ball with only his right arm, using the age old techniques of “hope and prayer” to try to will the ball to stick around.

The Bottom Line

Every time he hits a 440 foot HR or fires a bullet right over the 2B bag to nab a runner, Langeliers comes across as an emerging star who just needs a bit more consistency...In reality, though, he is a back up catcher masquerading as a starter.

With his average barely over the Mendoza line for 2 years running and his K rate near 30% (29.2% in 2023, 28.2% in 2024), a terrible OBP and poor fundamental skills behind the plate, Langeliers might park 25 balls over the wall but he is not the right catcher to take the A’s to the next level.

Now who that catcher might be is an open question as Daniel Susac is still in AA and has had an up and down year. (Susac had an exciting .338/.397/.632 July but is currently mired in a 1 for 19 tailspin that mirrors his terribad .186/.239/.279 April.)

Kyle McCann has nice looking overall stats in the big leagues this year (.284./371/.441), but his 34.5% K rate tells the story of a player who gets exposed as he plays more. Base stealers also lick their chops a tad too much when he is catching.

But today is not for anointing the next great A’s catcher. It is for pointing out that the incumbent emperor is wearing no clothes and to suggest that the search for the “catcher of the future” is ongoing.

Shea it ain’t sho! But it is.