The A's Outfield Achieved Something No Other Team in Baseball Could

When most baseball fans, and even potentially A's fans, think of the A's outfield defense, they immediately go to Denzel Clarke. The 25-year-old rookie is arguably the best defender in all of baseball, putting up +13 Outs Above Average in just 47 games played this season.

If he's able to stay healthy and play in more games, he should have some golden hardware coming his way in the near future. Even if he just tripled his games played (141), that would put him at +39 OAA at that rate, which would be head and shoulders above Boston's Ceddanne Rafaela in center. The Sox centerfielder put up a tremendous +22, but Clarke should be able to easily overtake him.

This may come as a shock to some, but the A's second-best regular outfielder was actually Tyler Soderstrom, who switched from first base to left field in April with the arrival of Nick Kurtz. Left is a position that Soderstrom had never played, and he ended up with a +5 OAA on the year, just one behind of Steven Kwan, and tied with Cody Bellinger, Isaac Collins, and Wyatt Langford.

Early on, there was a ball that clanked off Soderstrom's glove and over the wall, but that wasn't a regular occurrence. Instead, we saw him make sliding grabs frequently, and even seem to enjoy himself out there as he got more comfortable by season's end.

A's manager Mark Kotsay said numerous times that Soderstrom is an athlete out there, and when asked about the likelihood of him making a switch back to the infield to man third base for the club next season, GM David Forst said it's unlikely.

"The reality is, he turned himself into a really good left fielder in a short, short amount of time, and given a full off season and a spring training to work on it, I think he can be an outstanding defensive left fielder. So right now, I think our plans are to have Tyler play the outfield."

Right field is a bit of a question mark moving forward at the moment, with it also being revealed that Lawrence Butler has a patellar tendon strain in his right knee. The team is unsure if he needs surgery at this time.

With Butler in the mix, the A's defensive outfield is pretty solid, and could even give them the best collection of defenive outfielders in the game. All three players ended up ranked in the top five at their positions in OAA. No other team could boast that.

Carlos Cortes could end up seeing more playing time if Butler is out of action, as both are left-handed bats. Cortes also graded out as a plus outfielder, and if he were to receive more reps, then he could also be one of those top guys at his position.

The A's defense improved over the course of the season, and one of the surprising spots for that improvement was on the outfield grass, given the number of moving parts that were involved over the course of the year.