The A’s injury pileup has gotten so massive that the more interesting question isn’t whether it’s ugly. It is. The real question is why it’s happened, and how much of it can actually be laid at the feet of training, strength and conditioning, or medical decisions.
Start with the sheer volume. Brent Rooker, Luis Severino, Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers, Jacob Wilson, Tyler Soderstrom, Joshua Kuroda-Grauer, JT Ginn, Leo De Vries and Jamie Arnold are all out for the season, and Gage Jump is likely to join them.
Denzel Clarke and Zack Gelof have also missed significant time. That’s enough names to build a pretty good team, which is exactly the problem.
But the injuries don’t all fit the same story.
Some are simply bad luck, the kind of thing that makes blame feel forced. Kuroda-Grauer fouled a ball off of a ball and ruptured his testicle.
Arnold took a line drive to the face and wound up with damaged cheek and sinus bones. Those are the sort of plays that remind you not every injury is a referendum on the adults in charge, even if maybe every player should wear a cup.
Other injuries had nothing to do with preparation or diagnosis. Gelof’s knee laceration came when he slid hard into the side wall and hit wire netting.
That’s not a stretching issue. It’s not a conditioning issue.
It’s baseball. The same goes for the play that left Kurtz tangled up with a runner after a bad Gelof throw, costing the first baseman his thumb.
Wilson’s shoulder injury, suffered while diving for a ground ball, fits that same bucket. Langeliers’ torn meniscus while running the bases probably does too.
A body can be in great shape and still break down on an ordinary baseball play.
Then there’s the gray area, where the injuries are common enough around the league that you can’t scream malpractice, but you also can’t help wondering if the handling was right.
Rooker’s knee situation started with a bone bruise contusion, worsened over time, then led to a cortisone injection and rehab that didn’t solve the problem. Later tests showed an articular cartilage tear and loose bodies in his left knee, ending in season-ending surgery. There’s room to question whether something was missed or whether the decisions along the way were the right ones, but it’s not an easy case.
Soderstrom’s hip impingement tells a similar story. He tried to play through it, then quickly had to shut it down and undergo surgery anyway.
De Vries had a shoulder issue that affected his throwing at shortstop, kept playing for a while, and eventually was diagnosed with a labrum tear. He had surgery and is likely to miss about eight months.
If he had gone under the knife six weeks earlier, he might have been ready for the start of the 2027 season, though the exact moment the labrum tore isn’t known.
The pitchers sit in their own familiar lane. Severino, Ginn and Jump are dealing with arm injuries, and that’s the part of the game nobody can pretend is rare.
Ginn has an elbow impingement. Jump has shoulder soreness from impingement.
Severino’s shoulder strain is the most serious of the three. You can ask whether the between-starts routine is ideal, since clubs handle bullpen work, long toss and treatment differently, and whether communication could catch problems sooner.
Jump throwing a fastball at 91 MPH last night might have been a warning sign, though he still went on to throw a couple dozen more pitches before leaving. Even so, arm injuries are not some exclusive A’s curse, and the club hasn’t been hit harder than its opponents in that area.
There’s also the question of how injuries are handled once they happen. Rooker and Soderstrom stand out here, and De Vries may as well at the minor league level.
Lawrence Butler looked slowed in the first half of 2026 after knee surgery, and it’s fair to wonder whether a more gradual return, maybe with a rehab stint at AAA, would have helped before he was pushed back into everyday right field duty. Last year, Wilson tried to play through a hand injury that clearly limited him.
Wilson and Max Muncy also dealt with hit-by-pitch injuries where a fracture wasn’t diagnosed properly the first time.
Conditioning enters the conversation too, even if nobody outside the room can claim to know everything that goes into it. Clarke keeps running into soft tissue problems, especially hamstring issues, and it happened again while he was rehabbing a separate bone bruise.
Last season he also missed major time with a right adductor injury while rounding third to score on a base hit. Kurtz looks like a player who might benefit from trimming down a bit, and Butler showed up to camp looking as if he had bulked up in a way that only made moving harder.
That said, bodies come in all shapes, players have real say in how they manage themselves, and fans are not strength and conditioning experts. The broad truth is clear enough, though: the A’s have a much better team sitting on the IL than they do on the field.
If they’re going to be competitive going forward, that has to change. Somehow.
In Other News...
A's Fans Have A New Reason To Worry About Gage Jump
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Oaklands bullpen only added to the damage, turning the afternoon into a 19-1 defeat that underscored how badly things unraveled once Jump exited. His early departure came with shoulder tightness, which is the kind of update that can matter far more than the scoreboard for an As team already trying to piece together innings. [Read more 🡒]
Athletics Blowout Exposed A Bigger Problem Than One Ugly Night
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Luis Severinos future only adds another layer of uncertainty, and the criticism from this game did not stop with the pitchers alone. The way the staff was handled drew scrutiny, and the quiet night from the teams core players made the defeat feel even more discouraging, a reminder that a realistic playoff push will require a lot more than just putting one blowout behind them. [Read more 🡒]
As GM Search Is About To Define The Franchises Vegas Era
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With the organization preparing for its move to Las Vegas in 2028, the hire carries unusual weight because the next GM will help steer both the present roster and the early architecture of the Vegas era. The As are casting a wide net and weighing candidates with different backgrounds, which suggests they are looking for someone who can balance immediate baseball decisions with a longer-term transition still taking shape. [Read more 🡒]