What’s it really like at a Sacramento A’s game? Plus, lessons from an MLB Draft bust

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Let’s tag along as Sam Blum experiences — as the great Leonard Cohen put it — “the minor fall, the major lift.”

Plus: Cal Raleigh is having a boom season, Ken gives us notes on the Dodgers and Mets, and we hear from a first-round draft pick who never quite made it. I’m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal. Welcome to The Windup!

Fan for a Day: What’s it like at an A’s game?

Sam Blum tucked his credential in his pocket and bought a ticket to Sutter Health Park in Sacramento to watch an A’s game. After all, how often do you get a chance to experience big-league baseball in a minor-league park?

(Actually, you’ve got a pretty big window of opportunity; the A’s are there for at least the next three years.

But Blum didn’t just sit there and eat his chicken tenders and drink his beer. He also spoke to a few fans to find out how they feel about the A’s being hyper-local. Based on the ticket prices, it feels less like the city is welcoming an old friend for a stay, and more like the two sides are sharing a bunk bed in a European hostel: the accommodations are a bit subpar, there’s an expiration date on the relationship and your interaction consists of some pleasantries and a silent prayer that they don’t snore too loudly.

Of course, by the eighth inning, there was a “Let’s go OAKLAND” chant — a veritable honk-shoo for the Sacramento City Council, I’m sure.

One thing I found particularly interesting was the players being … pretty honest in their quotes. Here’s starting pitcher Luis Severino:

“The field’s not the best. The stadium is not the best, or has the accommodations of other stadiums. … We have a good record on the road versus at home. It’s not easy. It’s not what we thought it was going to be, but it’s what we have right now.”

Severino’s right. The A’s are 9-19 at home and 14-13 on the road.

Ken’s Notebook: Ohtani’s stolen-base potential, plus other broadcast notes

Leftover notes from Saturday’s Dodgers-Mets broadcast on Fox:

Shohei Ohtani — So much for the idea that Ohtani would abandon base stealing as he prepares to return to the mound. Another 50-50 season might be out of reach once he resumes pitching, but at his current pace, Ohtani would finish with 59 homers and 32 steals. And, while it stands to reason that he’ll preserve energy as a pitcher by running less often, we’ve all learned it’s foolish to set limits on him. For his career, Ohtani has stolen 156 bases in 197 attempts — a success rate of almost 80 percent.

Dodgers urgency — The closeness of the NL West race influenced the Dodgers’ recent decisions to part with their two longest-tenured veterans, Austin Barnes and Chris Taylor, for more talented, younger players. And while manager Dave Roberts surely would prefer that his club was not dealing with so many injuries, the added challenge is helping the Dodgers stay on edge. Roberts believes the team’s late clinch last season benefited it in the postseason. And now, between the injuries, difficult current schedule and competitiveness of the division, he does not need to manufacture reasons to keep his players interested.

Juan Soto — Francisco Lindor, Carlos Beltrán and Mike Piazza all are examples of superstars who initially struggled with the Mets, and Soto’s adjustment is even more complicated. His $765 million contract makes him a center of attention. He doesn’t have Aaron Judge to shield him the way he did last season with the Yankees. And he felt the full brunt of his decision to leave the Yankees for the Mets last weekend at Yankee Stadium. The booing in the series finale was so loud, some with the Mets believe it got to Soto. For his part, Soto told me, “Little by little, I’m settling in.” He went on to praise the Mets’ coaches for helping him get more comfortable.

Carlos Mendoza and Soto — Mendoza, the Mets’ manager, is in a unique position to counsel Soto. Before assuming his current position, Mendoza spent 15 years in the Yankees organization. So, he understands the differences in the franchises, how they are run and how they are perceived. And he has talked to Soto about how with the Mets, they have a unique opportunity to build something. Not a replica of the Yankees, but a dominant franchise of their own.

David Peterson — With a 2.79 ERA in 10 starts, Peterson is realizing his potential in part because of the surgery he underwent in November 2023 to repair a torn labrum in his left hip. Prior to the surgery, Peterson struggled to keep his back foot connected with the mound; it would slip off because his rotation was limited. Now that he’s able to rotate better on his back leg, he can keep his foot connected longer. “Everything starts from the ground up,” he said. “Cleaning up stuff in the feet and the legs in turn helps with the upper half.”

Anomalies?: ‘Big Dumper’ having big season

I’ve had a theory for a while now that once we get the automated ball-strike system in the big leagues, we’ll slowly start to see more offensive production from catchers — framing will matter less, and when one skill begins to devalue, another usually takes its place.

Until then, Cal Raleigh’s 2025 season is an aberration, not the norm.

• The Mariners catcher, 28, smashed his 18th and 19th home runs of the season last night. That’s one short of the league lead (Ohtani, 20). It’s also four more than Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe, and then two other catchers have nine (Shea Langeliers of the A’s and Carson Kelly of the Cubs).
• Raleigh’s 3.0 fWAR is also best among big-league catchers (the Dodgers’ Will Smith is second at 2.3).

The interesting thing about those results: Raleigh’s 2.0 FRM (FanGraphs’ pitch-framing stat) ranks eighth out of 19 qualified catchers. O’Hoppe ranks last, at -5.2, while Smith ranks 11th, at -0.2. And for the time being, that’s still important.

Even before last night’s two-homer outburst, Raleigh was hitting .254/.372/.577 (.948), and his expected stats (you can find those here) suggest he’s not getting particularly lucky. Wanna guess how many Mariners catchers have ever posted an OPS of .948 or higher in a season in which they took enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title?

To quote the great Jayson Stark: “That would be none.”

Perspective: Lessons from a draft bust

In 2006, the San Diego Padres had the 17th pick in the draft. By then, future All-Stars like Clayton Kershaw, Tim Lincecum and Max Scherzer were already off the board, while names like Ian Kennedy, Daniel Bard and Adam Ottavino still remained.

The Padres chose Matt Antonelli, a second baseman with a .324 career average (and a .935 OPS) during his three years at Wake Forest.

Antonelli did make the big leagues … for 21 games in 2008. Now 40, he’s a guest writer today on our Peak desk and tells us the lessons he learned from those years coming up short of the expectations set by himself and others.

I thought this one was extremely insightful:

What feels like a loss can actually be relief in disguise:

“I lost a version of myself I had been building since I was 15 years old. But on the other side of heartbreak was something unexpected: freedom. Once my playing career ended, I felt an unexpected calmness for the first time in a long time.

I was able to sit down and ask myself, ‘What else am I good at? What do I care about? What do I really want to do?’”

I believe the term is “detachment,” and it’s not an easy lesson to learn, especially if you’re the sort of person whose personality is one big lifelong bulldog-bite on your desired outcome (a trait that does benefit a lot of athletes).

Antonelli seems to have nailed the feeling of true acceptance. {{#if isSubscriber}}{{else}}(Remember: All links are free to read for Windup subscribers.){{/if}} The whole thing is definitely an interesting read — it’s not a perspective we often get to see from pro athletes.

Handshakes and High Fives

So much for Matt Vierling’s comeback; he’s already back on the IL with shoulder inflammation. But in his place, newly activated Wenceel Pérez provided some magic.

Have I seen articles like this before? Yes. Did I love every one of them? Also yes. Zack Meisel presents Carlos Santana trivia to Carlos Santana.

Pete Crow-Armstrong’s breakout season has another side effect: The Cubs are willing to discuss an extension, even in-season.

That didn’t take long: The Yankees already have a facial hair superstition.

The Pohlads are “making progress” on the sale of the Twins. Thing is, nobody has met the $1.7 billion asking price. Dan Hayes has details.

Michael Conforto homered last night, but his season has been brutal. How much more grace will the Dodgers have?

A real-life Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn? Mitch Bannon tells us how Blue Jays prospect Gage Stanifer’s pitching has improved with better vision.

More All-Quarter Century teams: Blue Jays and Astros.

On the pods: MLB Network Radio’s Mike Ferrin joins the boys this week in “Starkville,” discussing The Athletic’s MLB All-Quarter Century Team. Meanwhile, on “Rates & Barrels,” Eno and DVR wonder if Michael King will reach Blake Snell territory (five years/$182M) when he hits free agency.

Most-clicked in our last newsletter: The video of the weirdest baseball play I’ve ever seen.

📫 Love The Windup? Check out The Athletic’s other newsletters.

(Photo: Darren Yamashita / Imagn Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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