While the Athletics pitching staff can be looked at as an obvious area of need moving into the offseason after ranking 29th with a 5.53 team ERA, it's not the only factor separating the club from the postseason.

Shortstop Jacob Wilson took huge strides forward defensively in 2026 according to outs above average (+9) and fielding run value (+8) after posting a -3 in each stat last season. That was a huge positive for the club at a key position. At the same time, he held a -6 defensive runs saved in 2026, and the reason could tie directly into the higher ERA of the A's.

The way that DRS is measured, how a play works out matters. While Jacob Wilson set the record for consecutive games without an error at shortstop with 113, sometimes DRS believes that a play should have been an error, or was made more difficult than need be, leading to a lower score. OAA is measured through Statcast tracking data. 

A recent example of this in Sacramento was when Walbert Ureña made his last start of the season on September 23, and Lawrence Butler grounded a ball hard to Angels shortstop Zach Neto. Everyone seemed to think the play was an error, but the official scorer at the game ruled it a hit, meaning all four runs that scored that inning were earned.

Neto didn't get an error, but Ureña's ERA shot up from 2.74 to 2.97 that game. This is meant as an example of something that could have happened with the A's on occasion to bridge the gap between Wilson's errorless streak and his DRS and OAA numbers. 

Zack Gelof at third base was also a bright spot for the club, posting +9 DRS and +1 in outs above average and fielding run value.

As you can see, the metrics don't tend to agree across the same player, which makes grading defense as a whole a little tricky. That's why when you see a player with positive metrics across all three stats, they're likely doing something right.

At first base, Nick Kurtz graded well in DRS (+5), but below average in OAA (-3). He was also positive in FRV at +1. When he went down due to injury, Jeff McNeil actually graded out well across all three metrics, topping out with a +4 DRS.

McNeil wasn't as great defensively at second base, grading out below league average across all three metrics. In fact, Alika Williams' 110 innings at second base were the only time the A's had someone that graded out as a plus defender at second this season. Joshua Kuroda-Grauer was just a touch below league average. 

Henry Bolte took over in center following Denzel Clarke's early-season injury, and he posted a positive defensive season across all defensive metrics, with a +5 defensive runs saved and outs above average and a +6 in fielding run value. Among qualified centerfielders, that ranks tied for 10th. 

Tyler Soderstrom graded out well across all three stats in 2025, topping out with a +10 DRS, but this season was more of a mixed bag. He posted a +3 DRS in nearly identical innings this season (867 ⅔ in 2025, 860 ⅓ in 2026), while his OAA and FRV dropped to -5 and -3. His OAA ranked worst among left fielders this season, and he only played 109 games.

Lawrence Butler was also a plus defender in 2025, but this season he held a -4 in DRS and OAA and a -5 in FRV. His injury can be explained a little bit more by offseason knee surgery and a lack of a true spring training, which may have also hurt him at the plate to begin the season. 

Carlos Cortes played a little left and right field and wasn't great in either spot. Overall he held a -9 DRS and OAA with a -8 FRV. Due to the A's injuries and his hot bat at times, he likely saw the field more consistently than was planned for this season. 

When Mark Kotsay talked about the team figuring out the keys to pitching in Sacramento, he mentioned how the Chicago Cubs gave up nearly as many home runs as the A's, but they also were headed to the postseason. One of those keys was not walking batters, which limits the big home runs. 

The other was team defense. The Cubs finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in baseball with a +115 DRS — clearing the second-place Tampa Bay Rays by 28. They ranked first across all three metrics, so you know they were the best as a unit. 

Meanwhile, the A's both walked too many batters and ended up tied with the Philadelphia Phillies with the worst defense in baseball, according to DRS. Both clubs put up a cumulative -51 over the course of the year. The Phillies, like the Cubs, made the postseason. The key for them was having the highest strikeout rate in MLB at 25.8%, tied with the Milwaukee Brewers. 

The A's ranked 21st in strikeout rate at 21.2%. They were also one of just four teams to walk at least 10% of batters, along with the Cincinnati Reds (75-87), Angels (62-100) and the AL West-winning Houston Astros (81-81). 

The Athletics ranked 29th in OAA with a -44, with the Seattle Mariners behind them at -58, and held that same position in FRV, with the only difference being the Mariners were slightly better in that metric at -55. 

One lingering question the A's will have to answer this winter is how much of an impact Denzel Clarke had on lifting up the defense of Soderstrom and Butler in 2025, being that he could float all over the field and make any play, and how much of the drop-off was lingering injuries. Butler came into the season after surgery, while Soderstrom had season-ending hip surgery in August. 

This is one area that the team definitely needs to improve in, and it's also a spot where they can't necessarily bring in other people to do the job in 2027 as they can with the pitching staff. Most of the roles on offense are spoken for, with Soderstrom, Bolte, and Butler the starters in the outfield, and then Gelof at third, Wilson at shortstop, Kuroda-Grauer the frontrunner at second, and Kurtz at first. 

Those spots are solidified. The front office can look to improve the bench with defensive pieces, and they have a good head start with Clarke and Williams. But the real improvement is going to have to be from the starters, who will impact the games day in and day out.