Athletics' Shea Langeliers and Mark Leiter Jr. to have season-ending surgeries

What happened

The Athletics will lose two of their more notable contributors to season-ending procedures, per Yahoo Sports. Catcher Shea Langeliers is reportedly having surgery for a torn meniscus in his right knee, and right-handed reliever Mark Leiter Jr. is reportedly having surgery to repair a right hip impingement. Both procedures are expected to end their respective seasons, per the A's injury report as cited by Yahoo Sports.

The timing lands hard for a franchise already navigating a difficult year in Sacramento, and it removes two players who had been among the more interesting storylines on the roster — one for what he was doing at the plate and behind it, the other for what he had quietly been doing out of the bullpen.

Why it matters

Langeliers is not simply a roster piece. The 28-year-old became the first Athletics catcher to start an All-Star Game since Terry Steinbach in 1989, per Yahoo Sports — a distinction that speaks to both his individual performance and the relative scarcity of marquee moments for this franchise in recent memory. He had appeared in 93 games before the injury, and his absence removes the club's most prominent position player from the lineup for the remainder of the season.

Per Yahoo Sports, Langeliers had also been the subject of trade rumors as the A's work through another disappointing year. That context matters: a catcher who draws that kind of external interest is, by definition, a player other organizations value. Whether those conversations continue in any form is now a separate question entirely, but his name had been circulating in that way before the injury report surfaced.

Leiter's situation carries its own wrinkle. Per Yahoo Sports, this is the second time this season he has gone on the injured list with a hip impingement — meaning the surgery represents a resolution to a problem that had already interrupted his year once. The 35-year-old had returned from that first stint and, by the numbers, had been one of the more quietly effective relievers in the league over his most recent stretch of work.

The numbers

Langeliers was hitting .263 with 23 home runs and 51 RBIs across 93 games before his injury, per Yahoo Sports. For a catcher, that power profile is notable — 23 home runs in 93 games is a pace that draws attention regardless of position, and it helps explain both the All-Star selection and the trade interest that reportedly followed.

Leiter's season line reads 0-1 with a 4.28 ERA and four saves in 36 relief appearances, per Yahoo Sports. That ERA, taken in isolation, undersells what he had been doing lately. Over his last 18 games, Leiter had not allowed a run in 17 of them, compiling a 0.50 ERA during that stretch, per Yahoo Sports. A reliever posting a 0.50 ERA over an 18-game window is the kind of performance that tends to generate quiet appreciation from the people who watch box scores closely and loud appreciation from the people who needed him to get three outs in the seventh. The hip impingement, apparently, had other plans.

Where the club stands

The Athletics enter this week at 64-98 (.395), sitting fourth in the AL West, 17 games back in the division. They have been eliminated from both the division race and the Wild Card race, and they carry a two-game losing streak into a three-game home series against the Boston Red Sox at Sutter Health Park.

Tuesday's game features Gage Jump against Jake Bennett. Wednesday brings Jacob Lopez against Patrick Sandoval. Thursday closes the series with Mason Barnett opposing Sonny Gray. None of those matchups are made easier by the absence of Langeliers behind the plate.

The Wild Card rank sits at 11, 20.0 relative to the cut line — a number that, combined with the elimination status, means the remaining schedule is largely about development, evaluation, and the kind of organizational inventory-taking that happens when October is no longer a realistic destination.

What we don't know yet

Per Yahoo Sports, the reporting is drawn from the A's injury report, which indicates both surgeries are happening — but the piece does not specify exact procedure dates, recovery timelines, or what the club's plans are at catcher for the remainder of the season. The trade-rumor context around Langeliers is noted by Yahoo Sports as background, but no specific teams, offers, or offseason intentions are reported.

It is also worth noting that Leiter's hip impingement surgery, while described as season-ending, does not come with a reported return timetable. The fact that this is his second IL stint with the same issue this season is the extent of what Yahoo Sports has reported on the medical history.

What to watch

### Will the Athletics make a roster move at catcher?

Per general league mechanics, a player having season-ending surgery is typically a candidate for transfer to the 60-day injured list, which would open a spot on the 40-man roster. Whether the Athletics make that move — and who they bring in to fill the catching depth behind Langeliers — is the immediate operational question. Yahoo Sports does not report a specific replacement or transaction tied to either player.

Beyond the roster mechanics, Langeliers' offseason status will be worth monitoring. He reportedly drew trade interest before the injury, and how that conversation evolves — if it does — will be one of the more substantive Athletics storylines heading into the winter. A catcher who starts an All-Star Game, hits 23 home runs in 93 games, and is 28 years old tends to remain a name in those discussions regardless of what happens in the final weeks of a lost season.

For Leiter, the question is simpler and harder at the same time: a 35-year-old reliever who was posting a 0.50 ERA over his last 18 games before a second hip procedure in the same season is a player whose health trajectory matters as much as his performance history. The surgery reportedly addresses the impingement, but Yahoo Sports does not report what his availability looks like beyond this year.

The Red Sox series, meanwhile, gives the Athletics three games to watch some of their younger starters work — Jump, Lopez, and Barnett each getting a turn against a Boston club that will have its own motivations in late July. The results will not change the standings, but they will add to the organizational picture that front offices spend the final two months of a difficult season quietly assembling.