Laureano and the long line of laudable outfielders

Billy Beane’s Athletics’ teams always seem to have the same archetypal players at certain positions.

He’s very similar to Bill Belichick in that sense, possessing the ability to continuously find difference-making talent at key positions and replace that talent when it gets too expensive to keep. It hasn’t resulted in titles, but it has resulted in nine playoff appearances since 2000 with a consistently-bottom-barrel payroll.

He always finds a defensive stalwart with pop at third, starting with Eric Chavez (six gold gloves) to Josh Donaldson to now Matt Chapman, far and away the best defensive player in baseball according to advanced analytics and The Athletic.

Another is a rotating crop of closers, from Billy Koch to Kevin Foulke to Huston Street to Andrew Bailey to Grant Balfour to Blake Treinen, who just had one of the best seasons for a closer since Dennis Eckersley.

And another consistent cog in the machine is an outfielder with a cannon of an arm who keeps runners at bay, and in that role, Ramon Laureano has become an indispensable part of this Oakland A’s team, and an absolute highlight machine.

Laureano has already given us two outfield assist of the year candidates in the first week, both against the defending champion Red Sox – one coming in the top of the ninth inning in a one-run game – and both coincidentally against Xander Bogaerts, who just signed a $132 million extension, but has been undone two days in a row by a kid who is making $558,000 this season.

He has outperformed his contract since his first career start, in which he threw out Jose Iglesias at third after a wild throw from Jonathan Lucroy in the top of 13th, then hit a walk-off drive to right-center for his first career hit.

Since then he has impressed more and more, compiling 11 outfield assists, the most by a center fielder in the last two seasons, despite playing only 57 games.

These back-to-back magnificent missiles do not even represent his best throw in the majors, as that came against the Angels last season when he turned a double play with a 300-foot lob from the warning track that landed perfectly in Mark Canha’s glove in what was his fifth career game.

He follows in the footsteps of Yoenis Cespedes, who terrorized the Angels himself with amazing throws from the depths of the outfield; Josh Reddick, who won a gold glove in 2012 and was a key piece of Houston’s 2017 World Series; and Mark Kotsay, who was always underrated at center field.

If you consider the logistics of the Coliseum – massive foul ground, deep center field and cold Oakland nights that have the power to turn even the best power hitters into warning track warriors – then having players like Matt Chapman and Ramon Laureano patrolling makes all the more sense.

But what doesn’t make much sense is Laureano’s Mahomesian arm which is already making a name for itself as one of the deadliest weapons in the game and a key piece for the Oakland Athletics this season.