WASHINGTON -- Shea Langeliers was a bit perplexed on Monday when he opened a group message containing the Athletics' starting lineup for the series opener on Tuesday and saw his name in the leadoff spot.
As far back as he could remember, Langeliers could not recall having batted first as a professional, in college or in high school. If he did, it would have been during his Little League days. So, it’s understandable that the A’s catcher thought manager Mark Kotsay may have been playing a prank.
“When they sent out the lineup, me and [Brent Rooker] kind of giggled,” Langeliers said. “We thought it was a typo or something.”
Langeliers showed up to Nationals Park on Tuesday and realized it was no joke. He was batting leadoff for the first time, and after this performance, it may be impossible for Kotsay to bat Langeliers anywhere else.
Accustomed to batting third or fourth for most of his career, Langeliers sure looked comfortable starting things off for a change. He made history in his first leadoff assignment, crushing three home runs as part of a five-hit effort in a 16-7 blowout victory over the Nationals to become just the second catcher in Major League history to homer three times out of the leadoff spot and the first since Travis d’Arnaud did it for the Rays on July 15, 2019.
Since 1900, Langeliers is the first player to have three long balls in his first career game batting leadoff.
“Great night for Shea,” Kotsay said. “He’s been able to almost hit another gear right now offensively and put together at-bat after at-bat, which we saw tonight.”
Batting a slugging catcher in the leadoff spot might seem unconventional, but there was no complex analysis or data crunching that went into Kotsay’s decision.
The process was simple. Langeliers has been one of the best hitters in MLB over the past few weeks, so it made sense to get him as many at-bats as possible.
“It’s a spot that, you lead off the game once and that’s the last time you lead off,” Kotsay said before the game. “To have him at the top and swinging a really good bat right now, it’s a chance to get us off to a quick start, hopefully.”
It was a quick start, all right. It only took four pitches into the game for Langeliers to clobber his first homer of the game, a booming Statcast-projected 402-foot solo blast to center field off Nationals starter MacKenzie Gore. In fact, Langeliers led off an inning three times on Tuesday, sending a 387-foot homer to left in the fifth and a majestic 419-foot shot to center in the seventh to complete his second career three-homer game.
With a chance in the eighth to join teammate Nick Kurtz as the second player with a four-homer game this season, Langeliers instead lined a double to left field, becoming the first A’s catcher with five hits in a game since Dave Duncan went 5-for-5 against Boston on July 12, 1972.
“Shea was OK today,” A’s starter Luis Severino, who earned the win after limiting the Nationals to three runs in six innings, said with a grin. “He couldn’t hit four. But he’s unbelievable. After catching a game like that, to also go out there and hit three homers, that’s crazy. That’s why he’s one of the best.”
The first homer, Langeliers’ 20th of the year, landed him in rare company. He joined Cal Raleigh, Mike Piazza, Earl Williams and Rudy York as only the fifth catcher to hit at least 20 home runs three times in their first four MLB seasons.
Langeliers is also the fourth catcher with multiple career three-homer games (d’Arnaud, Gary Carter, Johnny Bench), and his 15 total bases are tied for the most by a catcher in a game (since at least 1900).
Much has been made about the incredible run by rookie sensation Kurtz, who became just the 10th player in MLB history to earn AL Player and Rookie of the Month honors in the same month (July). But Langeliers has been on par with Kurtz’s incredible production as of late.
Since returning from the All-Star break on July 18, Langeliers is batting .435 (30-for-69) and his 10 home runs are tied with Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber for most in the Majors over that stretch.
Such a historic leadoff debut begs the question: Could "Leadoff Shea" be a thing going forward?
“I don’t know,” Langeliers said with a laugh. “It might be a thing against lefties. We’ll see. Wherever Kots thinks I’m going to produce, I’m down for whatever spot in the lineup.”