2024 New Jersey Athletics MVPWe were back amongst the big boys this year. A plethora of trades in the pre-season and before the trade deadline saw real quality added to the group and added to the existing talent this meant a rapid climb to over 100 wins, a 22 win improvement from the 2023 season.
Trying to identify the one person who had the greatest impact was mighty difficult. Dan Allen (acquired from Illinois) looked to be heading towards just the second Athletic to top 40 HRs in a season until injury stopped him at 35 in September, an injury that may have derailed our playoff run too.
Derek Anderson a deadline day trade acquisition from Ontario hit .357 for us but wasn't with us long enough to figure. Jake White, the former Rookie of the Year, hit .281 and cleared 30 HRs for the second time in his 4 seasons.
But really it came down to a choice between players, both drafted it he 2020 ammy draft. Bob Allen a talented pitcher reversed his record from 9-17 to 17-9 while dropping 2.05 from his ERA in 2023, down to 2.56 and Ken Calhoun, yet another new player to the team, obtained from Ohio along with 'the man who is ALL BUTT!'.
In the end we went with
Ken Calhoun. The 26y/o from McAllen, TX, had a career year and anchored the lineup from the #3 spot for most of the season. Ken was the first Athletic to cross .300 for a season (.315 is 6th all time for the A's), his season ranked him #2 all time in single season VORP for the A's. He also scored more than 100 times, drove in more than 100 and most impressively of all became only the second Athletic of all time to hit more than 200 times in a season. Add to all of this 30 HRs, a +11.7 ZR and .991 fielding pct at CF, Ken was the main man for us, shoring up a spot that has never been properly filled since Martik Geboyan wore the yellow, white and blue.
Ken Calhoun, not just an all round hitter an all round player.
- .315 avg, #9 PL
- .545 SLG - #5 PL
- 7.7 WAR - #4 PL
- 203 hits - #4 PL and 2nd ever in Athletics colours
- 38 doubles - #3 PL
- 10 triples - #3 PL
- 30 HRs - #9 PL
- 103 RBI - #5 PL
- 106 runs - #6 PL
- 33 steals - #6 PL
- 78 XBH - #2 PL
- 351 total bases - #2 PL
- 15 assists - #1 PL and AFBL amongst CF
- 3 double plays - #1 PL and AFBL amongst CFs
- +11.7 ZR - #2 PL amongst CFs
- 1.049 EFF - #2 PL amongst CFs