The latest Sutter Health Park oddity? A’s manager can’t see the whole field
The A’s have had plenty to get used to while playing in a minor league ballpark in West Sacramento.
Their temporary digs feature a clubhouse that’s beyond the left-field wall, which gives it a spring training feel compared to stadiums throughout the league. The 13,800-fan capacity, which the team has not fully hit this season even among its four sellouts, is roughly a quarter of some stadium they visit on the road.
But there was a new quirk that impacted Thursday’s game that frustrated manager Mark Kotsay.
“I’m completely blind on anything that goes down the (foul) line,” Kotsay said.
He was referring to a ball hit by Brent Rooker in the fifth inning Thursday that bounced before hitting a portion of the left-field foul pole that should have been ruled out of play.
But Kotsay couldn’t see it from his vantage point in the dugout. On the play, Tyler Soderstrom was thrown out trying to score from first. Had the play been ruled correctly, it would have been a ground-rule double and Soderstrom would have been forced to stay at third base, and could have scored later in the inning given he would have been at third with no outs.
The problem for Kotsay: Because Soderstrom was thrown out at the plate, the team initially had to focus its replay review on home plate to see if Soderstrom had been blocked by the catcher from trying to score, or if he was safe. And by rule, Kotsay and his staff only had 15 seconds to initiate a challenge.
That didn’t leave enough time to evaluate if Rooker’s double bounced off the wall or the foul pole. He didn’t know he needed to.
“I wasn’t aware that the ball bounced up and hit the foul pole, because I can’t see it,” an exasperated Kotsay said. “So in order for me to know that, I’ve got to rely either on the (umpire) crew on the field to make the right call, or for replay ... Once the ball bounces in play, and it bounces over the barrier, that’s a reviewable play, but I didn’t know it bounced over the barrier because I can’t see it.”
The A’s next batter, Miguel Andujar, had an infield single that would have scored Soderstrom before Rooker scored on a bases-loaded walk later in the inning. The A’s wound up losing, 10-5, but had a 5-2 lead after the frame.
The seating angles for Sutter Health Park are sharp relative to the foul lines. The grand stands on both sides of the field angle from home plate to allow seats to face the infield well down the foul line, making it impossible to see the furthest corners of the outfield from the dugout. The visiting dugout has the same issue down the right-field line.
Kotsay said he asked the umpires to get together to see if any could determine if the ball hit the portion of foul pole holding a net inches over the outfield wall.
“None of them determined that they had enough to overturn the call,” Kotsay said. “So another perfect storm. If we challenge that play, we go back to second and third, no outs.”
It’s highly unlikely the issue would be fixed during the A’s temporary stay in Sutter Health Park given it would take getting rid of multiple rows of seats that are close to the action.
But the team’s yet-to-be-built ballpark in Las Vegas, where the A’s plan to play after a three- or four-year stay in West Sacramento, will almost certainly have seats and dugouts angled to see the corners of the outfield, like other Major League ballparks, to prevent another situation like Thursday’s from happening.
This story was originally published May 22, 2025 at 5:56 PM.
