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The Oakland Athletics have continued their impressive campaign here in the second half of the season, and their success has come despite the fact that some of their offensive firepower has fizzled out. That includes the likes of Josh Donaldson, as well as Josh Reddick.
One of those key offensive pieces turned his recent struggles around, and he did it with the long ball. Locked in an 0-for-20 slump, it was Josh Reddick who spent the weekend absolutely mashing, and may have just turned his season around. A breakout star of sorts for the A’s in 2012, the 2013 season hasn’t been as kind to Reddick.
That 0-for-20 slump was far from his only rough stretch of the season. In fact, Reddick’s year has largely been a disappointment compared to what he did last year. His average has dipped from .242 to .214 this season and his WAR has gone from a 4.5 to only 2.0 in 2013. His power numbers were down dramatically as well. Not all of that is completely his fault, though, as he’s walking more and striking out less, but also dealing with a BABIP of only .235.
Over the weekend, though, we saw Reddick take out some of his frustrations on opposing pitchers, and potentially turn his season around heading into the final stretch. He hit five home runs between Friday and Saturday, including three on Friday. Heading into the weekend, he had only five big flies on the year.
He added another hit on Sunday, with another couple of walks. If what we saw from him over the weekend is any indication, he could be in for a big August and September, which would obviously be tremendous news for an Athletics club that could use the extra offensive boost. At the very least, if he can recover his power as he showed over the weekend, the A’s become that much more dangerous when the postseason rolls around.
