26-year old righty swinging 3B Scott Sizemore has played good enough for the A’s since coming over from the Tigers, that he has won a full-time job. Sizemore has played in 80 games for the A’s so far this year and he is 65 for 266 (.244 avg, .772 OPS) with 35 runs scored, 10 homers, 47 RBIs and 2 stolen bases. The A’s will probably bring in competition for Sizemore at 3B next spring, but he is more than capable of doing a decent job for the A’s. He has shown surprising power for them and a good glove at 3B.

32-year old righty swinging LF Josh Willingham has turned in a solid year for the A’s. He has played in 120 games for the A’s so far this year and he is 107 for 434 (.247 avg, .798 OPS) with 61 runs scored, 24 homers, 84 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. Willingham came into this season with career highs of 75 runs scored, 26 homers and 89 RBIs. If he can stay healthy the rest of the year, he should set new career highs in homers and RBIs. The impressive thing about his production numbers is that he’s putting them up without much help behind or in front of him in the batting order.

When the A’s dealt longtime starting 2B Mark Ellis to the Rockies, they handed the starting job to 24-year old, switch-hitting rookie Jemile Weeks. Weeks came into this season as the A’s #5 prospect according to Baseball America. He has played in 78 games for the A’s so far this year and he is 95 for 327 (.291 avg, .732 OPS) with 40 runs scored, 0 homers, 25 RBIs and 21 stolen bases. If Weeks finishes the year strongly, he will head into the 2012 season as the unquestioned starter at 2B for the A’s.

31-year old switch-hitting CF Coco Crisp has been very solid for the A’s this year. He has played in 115 games for the A’s so far in 2011 and he is 120 for 449 (.267 avg, .713 OPS) with 64 runs scored, 7 homers, 44 RBIs and a American League leading 37 stolen bases. The steals are a career high for Crisp and that’s not usually how the A’s roll under GM Billy Beane. In his book “Moneyball”, Beane pretty much said that stolen bases weren’t worth the risk. Personally I think he’s wrong about that and I think Crisp has been a big asset to the offense in 2011.

25-year old lefty swinging 1B Brandon Allen has bumped Conor Jackson to the bench. Allen has played in 11 games for the A’s so far this year and he is 13 for 37 (.351 avg, 1.066 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 2 homers and 4 RBIs. He has now played in 22 games overall for the D-Backs & A’s in which he is 18 for 66 (.273 avg, .963 OPS) with 14 runs scored, 5 homers, 11 RBIs and 1 stolen base. First base is a wide open position for the A’s going forward, and Allen can stake his claim to it if he finishes this year strongly.