Athletics catcher Shea Langeliers will undergo surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his right knee, relays Martín Gallegos of MLB.com. Reliever Mark Leiter Jr. will also require an operation to address the right hip injury that sent him to the injured list last week.
The A’s haven’t provided recovery timelines, though it wouldn’t be surprising if this shuts both players down for the year. Langeliers was already expected to miss most or all of the remaining season after his injury was first reported over the weekend. Leiter has had a pair of injured list stints related to his right hip since the middle of June.
The injury to Langeliers is obviously the more significant of the two. He’s second among catchers with 23 home runs (behind only Hunter Goodman’s 31) and is hitting .263/.332/.497 across 416 plate appearances. Langeliers had cooled off in June after a scorching start but was back on a tear in July. That wasn’t enough to spark an A’s team that has been in free fall for two months but would’ve made him one of the top targets for a contender seeking catching help. Langeliers is under arbitration control through the 2028 season and now all but certain to stay in West Sacramento through season’s end.
Leiter would’ve been an obvious trade candidate as a rental reliever on a non-contender. He signed a $2.85MM free agent contract over the offseason. Leiter had a 4.28 ERA across 33 2/3 innings despite quality strikeout and walk rates. His run prevention has lagged behind superior strikeout and walk numbers for most of his career, but he missed enough bats to find a middle relief spot in a contending bullpen if he’d been healthy. He’ll return to free agency at the end of the season. Both players are candidates for a move to the 60-day injured list whenever the A’s need to open a 40-man roster spot.
