Shea Langeliers is putting on a power display not seen by a catcher in 101 years.
The Athletics slugger will look to build on a start that includes five homers in six games when the club faces the Houston Astros on Friday night in the home opener at West Sacramento, Calif.
Hall of Famer Gabby Hartnett in 1925 was the last primary catcher to get off to such a start. Langeliers is the first Athletics player to do it since Oakland’s Mark McGwire in 1992.
“Any time your name is mentioned with names like Mark McGwire, that’s pretty cool,” Langeliers told reporters after hitting No. 5 during Wednesday’s 5-1 loss to the host Atlanta Braves, who drafted him ninth overall in the 2019 MLB Draft.
Langeliers led the majors in homers entering Thursday’s play. He smashed a career-high 31 last season and came out smoking on the club’s season-opening six-game road excursion.
“Shea had a great road trip,” Athletics manager Mark Kotsay said. “It doesn’t surprise us, because, obviously, the second half of last season he became the hitter that he’s showing he is right now. He had a great spring training. He’s swinging the bat well.”
The A’s went 1-5 on the trip but Langeliers isn’t overly concerned.
“I don’t think anybody is worried,” he said. “We’re six games into the season. We have 156 games left. This is a really talented group and a really good offensive group. We’re going to put it together at some point, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Houston lost its first two games of the season before winning five in a row.
The Astros finished off a three-game home sweep of the Boston Red Sox with a 6-4 win on Wednesday. Carlos Correa provided the big blow with a three-run homer in the fifth inning off Boston ace lefty Garrett Crochet.
Houston streamlined its hitting approach in the offseason and is emphasizing patience and working the count. The early returns are favorable as the Astros ranked second in walks (32) and were tied for the most runs (45) entering Thursday.
“I just think that we are just more patient,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “The first couple of games, it’s the hype of the season and the emotions are high, but then we settled down. Let’s not forget who we are. Let’s go back to forcing these guys to throw pitches and have good swings.”
Yordan Alvarez (.417 average, six walks) and Jose Altuve (.348, eight walks) are thriving, while Correa (.296, three walks) is showing signs of producing like he did in his first Houston stint (2015-21) when he smacked 20 or more homers five times.
“Everybody is buying into the approach, everybody is making the pitcher work, working deep counts,” said Correa, who was reacquired from the Minnesota Twins last July.
The Astros will go with right-hander Cristian Javier (0-0, 11.57 ERA) in the opener of the three-game series.
Javier, 29, served up two homers in a no-decision against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday. He gave up six runs and four hits over 4 2/3 innings.
Javier is 4-5 with a 4.06 ERA in 15 appearances (12 starts) against the Athletics. He lost his lone start last season, allowing four runs (three earned) and six hits over 4 2/3 innings in West Sacramento.
Langeliers is 1-for-6 without a homer against Javier.
Left-hander Jeffrey Springs (0-0, 3.38) will start for the A’s. He gave up two runs and five hits over 5 1/3 innings in a no-decision against the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday.
Springs, 33, is 3-0 with a 3.55 ERA in four appearances (two starts) against the Astros. He won both starts last season and had a 2.45 ERA.
–Field Level Media
