You hear a lot these days about “high floors” and “high ceilings” and “low floors”. I haven’t heard so much about it since I took that real estate license course run by midgets for giants and basketball players. (If you’re wondering, my license was revoked after a scandal involving a giraffe, a dwarf, and a sexually ambiguous remark.)
Anyway, the point is the A’s actually have quite a bit of young talent who, while certainly possessing the capacity to bust also have the potential to be more than just “solid”. Let’s take a look at the present and the immediate future to see how good things might be if “a lot breaks right”…
Present “high ceiling” talent
Lawrence Butler
Most conversation about the A’s rising from the depths of despair and taking the league by storm begin with Butler. After starting slow and returning to AAA, Butler returned in July and was one of the AL’s better players.
Not only did Butler slash .300/.345/.553 after the All-Star break, in 61 games he combined 13 HRs with 12 SB in 12 tries. For the season he ended up 18/18 in his stolen base attempts and he more than held his own against LHP, batting an impressive .291/.315/.523.
In RF Butler rated about average by the metrics, maybe a tick below that by the eyeball. But he is athletic and has proven to be a good learner, so he enters 2025 hoping to build on his 2024 batting success and to refine his fielding acumen. He is, without a doubt, a potential All-Star if he doesn’t take steps backwards (a la Gelof).
Tyler Soderstrom
Soderstrom hopes his 2025 is like Butler’s 2024: a breakout season for a talented young player. He certainly has the pedigree as the A’s #1 selection in 2020 and the son of a big league catcher.
Soderstrom was still only 22 when the 2024 season concluded and his 2nd half performance showed glimpses of his considerable offensive potential. Though he is viewed as a bit of a hacker, he is also known to have big time power and he took to 1B well enough that an average defensive profile appears to be attainable.
Perhaps Soderstrom will chase his way to obscurity, but if he has in fact matured and his talent is coming through he is capable of putting up monster offensive seasons such as .270/.320/.500 with 30+ HRs and hitting in the middle of a good lineup. Heck, in the 2nd half last year he hit .279/.340/.512. That was only a 12 game sample but it gives a sense of what’s possible.
Jacob Wilson
Questions remain around Wilson’s plate discipline and his slugging. Worst case scenario, he doesn’t walk much and he struggles to poke singles amongst the dreaded “7 man infield”.
However, there is another scenario in which Wilson picks up where he left off in the minors, parlaying his exceptional bat-to-ball skills into lots of “line to line” success while adding muscle and leveraging some gap power.
The reason Wilson’s chance of becoming more of a star than a “nice complementary piece” is good is the position he plays. As a strong defensive SS he doesn’t have to hit like a monster in order to be a 3.0-5.0 WAR player.
If Wilson’s off-season strength work pays off and he develops some patience to go with his contact skills, he could develop into a .280/.340/.400 hitter vying for a gold glove at SS every season. That slash line might not knock your socks off but combined with plus defense at SS it makes you an elite player.
Zack Gelof
Gelof showed star potential in 2023, then showed bust potential in 2024. In some ways his 2024 season showed his value in that even while striking out a ghastly 34.4% of the time, he played solid defense, flashed his speed (25 SB in 28 attempts) and power (17 HR), and accrued 1.4 WAR despite his .211 BA and .270 OBP.
But a star would be Gelof’s 2023 sample of 69 games produced over the full 162. In less than half a season, Gelof was a 2.7 WAR player on the strength of a .267/.337/.504 line that included 14 HR, 14 SB in 16 attempts, and solid defense.
Take Gelof’s 69 game romp in 2023 and extrapolate it over a full season and that slash line comes with 33 HR and 33 SB.
Honorable Mention: JJ Bleday
Once considered a future star when he was made the 4th overall selection by Miami in 2019, Bleday finally broke out with the A’s in 2024 (.243/.324/.437, 20 HR).
He may seem like a grizzled veteran on the A’s, but in fact Bleday is just 27. Still that’s too old to be grouped with the above players, plus Bleday gives back too much of his offensive value as a poor defensive CFer.
But move Bleday over to LF and you might have another high-WAR player who is in his prime even if he is already on the wrong side of his mid-20s.
Future “high ceiling” talent
Denzel Clarke
Though he has his skeptics and is an older prospect, Clarke has big time tools and if he takes off his ceiling is sky high. Already considered to be a plus defender in CF, he has the floor of Cristian Pache and a good chance to be at least as valuable as Michael A. Taylor.
But if he puts it all together we’re looking at more of a Mike Cameron type. Clarke will probably always have some swing and miss in his game, but he has electric speed (36 SB in 2024), power (13 HR, .445 SLG), and elite overall athleticism.
Certainly Cameron is an “aim high” projection, but it’s within reason for Clarke’s skill set and raw ability and he started to really put it all together after May of last year. Cameron, a gold glove CFer, turned a career .249/.338/.444 slash line into 50.6 career WAR.
Max Muncy
Also due to arrive sometime in 2025 is the man the A’s hope will be their next 3Bman and only their second Max Muncy.
Muncy gets overlooked because he has always been young for his league and as a result has not always put up big numbers. Yet he actually has put up big numbers of late. In AA at age 21: .302/.387/.446. In AAA at age 22: .277/.374/.491.
We will see whether Muncy winds up settling in at 3B, a position of need for the A’s but not one of great familiarity yet for Muncy, or at SS where he has played most of his career but is currently blocked by Wilson.
Wherever his glove lands him, Muncy’s hitting at ages 21 and 22 suggest a future big leaguer who might hit the way you envision for your 1st round pick.
Henry Bolte
Behind Clarke and Muncy a year or so is Bolte, with a profile similar to Clarke’s in many ways, and different in some key ways.
Like Clarke, Bolte is fast and has raw power giving him some 5-tool qualities and like Clarke, Bolte currently holds down CF, though not as proficiently as Denzel. Both strikeout too much as a key concern about their future.
What’s different is that while Clarke wins on pure athleticism, Bolte is far more refined in his approach despite being 3 years younger. Bolte is extremely patient and disciplined at the plate (sometimes to a fault), helping him to an impressive 11.2% BB rate in 2024 even though he couldn’t legally celebrate a walk with a drink until August 4th.
In 123 games last year, Bolte filled the box scores with 15 HR, 46 SB, and a .267/.368/.466 line, all at age 21. There is star potential there if Bolte can make enough contact to tap into it.
Honorable Mention: Pitchers
This article focuses exclusively on position players, but there are a few pitchers with a chance to make a big splash if they reach their ceilings. Mason Barnett and Jack Perkins are the closest, possibly debuting in 2025, Cheng Zhong-Ao Zhuang keeps putting up great numbers, and Luis Morales is considered the best prospect of the bunch.
But today I’m looking around the diamond and seeing that the A’s have some truly exciting possibilities in front of them and close behind. Sadly not all will reach their ceilings, and most likely some will not even come close.
But it’s still fun to follow and to dream…