Shea Langeliers popped off on Tuesday night, hitting three home runs and joining an exclusive two-person catching club in the process of powering the Athletics to a 16-7 victory over the Washington Nationals. Langeliers continues to be better, and in all areas of the ball as well, and he's now slashing .272/.323/.545 on the year with 22 home runs and 48 runs batted in — being one of the Athletics' best players.
However, Langeliers could not take seriously the fact that he was tasked by Athletics manager Mark Kotsay to hit in the leadoff spot during their Tuesday night victory. And it seems as though this more light-hearted disposition enabled the 27-year-old backstop to have a career night.
“When they sent out the lineup, me and [Brent Rooker] kind of giggled. We thought it was a typo or something,” Langeliers said, per Martin Gallegos of MLB.com.
Kotsay had utmost confidence in Langeliers' ability to set the table for the Athletics, and he wasted no time laying waste to MacKenzie Gore and the rest of the Nationals‘ pitching corps.
He homered in the very first at-bat of the game, taking Gore yard after feasting on a 96-mph fastball that was left hanging in the middle of the plate. And then he hit another dinger after leading off the top of the fifth inning, crushing an 88-mph meatball of a slider after a nine-pitch battle against Nationals reliever Orlando Ribalta.
For the final time in the game, Langeliers led off for the Athletics in the top of the seventh, and he promptly took another poor Nationals reliever yard. What made Langeliers giggle was the very thing that powered him to a bonkers night. This just goes to show how far the power of joy can take anyone.
Just give Shea Langeliers and the Athletics the base against lefties
What encouraged Kotsay to put Langeliers on the leadoff spot was how incredible he's been against lefties in 2025. Entering Tuesday, the Athletics catcher was hitting .403 against southpaws with an OPS of 1.032. And this faith from Kotsay paid off immensely, with Langeliers perhaps finding himself a new home in the Athletics' lineup.
Since being an everyday player in 2022, Langeliers has done nothing but improve for the Athletics. From a .681 OPS in his rookie campaign to a .738 OPS in his sophomore campaign, the 27-year-old has become a star behind the plate for the A's.
It might be best for Kotsay to keep Langeliers giggling if he keeps playing like this afterwards.
