A's Should Give Max Muncy Chance to Shine

With Zack Gelof set to undergo surgery on his right hand today, second base is a bit of a question mark for the Athletics heading into the 2025 season. Well, sort of.

The A's have solid options to consider, including veteran Luis Urías, utility-man Max Schuemann, and former first rounder Max Muncy, who was informed yesterday that he'd make the club and his MLB debut.

With the A's hoping to reach at least the .500 mark in 2025, they'll want to maximize the production they receive from second base while Gelof is out. They'll also want to make sure that if Muncy is in the big leagues, that he's not just sitting on the bench.

That said, Urías has had a solid camp with the Athletics, going 14-42 (.333) with a .429 OBP, and he hasn't had a spring this good since 2021 with the Milwaukee Brewers. Typically, a team will defer to the veteran in these instances, but there are a couple of reasons that the A's may want to play Muncy instead.

First off, as we already mentioned, if you're going to call up Muncy, he should be in the lineup consistently. Now, that could also come with some playing time at third base, or even at his natural shortstop, but he needs to be in there.

The more pressing matters are for the first series in particular. On the one hand, Urías was a member of the Seattle Mariners last season, and ended up going just 6-for-44 (.136) at T-Mobile Park, while going 12-for-50 (.240) outside of Seattle.

That ballpark is the most pitcher friendly around, and batters have complained about it being difficult to pick up the ball there. Since he has already struggled at that park, it may be wise to give someone else a shot. Then again, would someone making their debut against one of the best pitching staffs in baseball be the better bet?

On top of that, Roster Resource over at FanGraphs believes that Urías should be a platoon bat, facing mostly left-handers to get the most production out of him. They also have the Mariners projected starting rotation filled with right-handers.

Last year, Urías held a 116 wRC+ against southpaws and a 99 against righties in limited at-bats, but his power was much more prevalent against the lefties.

In his career, Urías has hit .264 against left-handers, and just .219 against right-handers, so a platoon is certainly an option for his playing time. Perhaps he could pair up with Gio Urshela at third? Last season Urshela held a 97 wRC+ against righties and a 29 against lefties.

In short, the fact that Urías does better against left-handers paired with Seattle's vaunted pitching staff--as well as the park itself--could give Muncy an opportunity to shine in the opening weekend of the 2025 season.