Oakland

Athletics

Ruiz has been out since late May recovering from a left wrist strain. The 25-year-old speedster has underwhelmed this season to an alarming degree on the heels of last year’s 67-steal rookie season. There isn’t much of a roadblock to at-bats at the highest level, but the Athletics have been hesitant to give him an extended opportunity this season, even when he’s been healthy.

Toro has been out since late June recovering from a right hamstring strain and figures to be ready to return to Oakland’s infield rotation right after the All-Star break, barring any setbacks.

Alvarez will head back to the minors following the All-Star break after batting .261 (6-for-23) with one extra-base hit and one steal in seven games for Oakland. The unheralded 30-year-old infielder doesn’t figure to be part of the Athletics’ long-term mix, which is probably why he’s been shipped back to Triple-A at this point in the year.

Miller’s flawless frame also included an eye-popping strikeout of Shohei Ohtani on a nasty 89 mph slider on the heels of a 101.8 mph fastball. He also delivered a sizzling 103.6 mph fastball, the fastest pitch in All-Star Game history in the Statcast era, prior to striking out Trea Turner. Fantasy managers are looking at arguably the best closer in baseball right now. The hard-throwing 25-year-old righty talked earlier this week about potentially returning to the starting rotation in the future, which would be a pretty significant development for his fantasy appeal.

Armenteros received a $3 million signing bonus as an international free agent back in 2016 and never wound up making it to Oakland. The 25-year-old outfielder was removed from the Athletics’ 40-man roster back in early May and has now been completely cut loose after posting a .681 OPS with three homers and 14 steals in 58 games this season between Triple-A Las Vegas and Double-A Midland. There’s a chance he gets an opportunity somewhere else in the coming weeks.

Kurtz came into the year considered one of the top prospects in the class prior to the year after getting on at a .527 on-base mark and slugging .784, and he put up similar numbers in 2024 with a .531 OBP and 763 slugging percentage. He’s one of the most patient hitters in the class after drawing 189 walks in his 164 career games with the Demon Deacons, and there’s plus power in his left-handed bat. The risk with Kurtz is that he’s athletically limited to first base, and while he should provide power and average, there won’t be many stolen bases in the foreseeable future. Kurtz offers risk because of the lack of positional value, but the power and ability to get on base obviously offers plenty of reward, too.

All three home runs were two-run shots, and Butler now has nine big flies on the season in just 64 games. Butler was demoted in May after posting just a .192/.256/.306 triple-slash line with six homers and three steals in 250 plate appearances in the big leagues over his first two years. However, Butler has been great since being recalled, going 13-for-41 (.317) with seven home runs, 10 runs scored, 14 RBI, and two steals in 12 games. Throughout his minor league career, Butler always posted much better stats in his second go around at a level, so it’s possible that the 24-year-old is starting to get a bit more comfortable at the MLB level. Given his power/speed upside and spot as the leadoff hitter in Oakland, he should be added in most formats at least to see if he can keep this up.

Rooker is now up to 21 home runs on the season while hitting .291/.369/.573 in what has been a dynamic first half of the season. He does have a strikeout rate that hovers around 33 percent, and that swing-and-miss will always lead to some cold stretches, but he has produced more often than not this season and deserves to be on most fantasy rosters while he’s running this hot.

Brown was sent to the minors on June 18th after starting the year by hitting .189/.251/.306 with five homers and four steals across 195 plate appearances. He went ahead and crushed Triple-A pitching to the tune of a .403/.416/.736 slash line with seven home runs and 24 RBI in just 16 games. In four games since being recalled he is now 5-for-13 with those two home runs and four RBI. He has posted multiple 20-home run seasons in his career, so he could get hot and help this Oakland lineup down the stretch, but the low batting average will likely make him harder to roster in fantasy leagues.

Estes allowed a solo home run to Trea Turner in the first inning but settled down from there, allowing just one walk and striking out five. He induced 10 whiffs on 55 swings for a 18 percent whiff rate and 25 percent CSW on the day. He will carry a 5.29 ERA into a projected start against the Angels after the break.