WEST SACRAMENTO — Walking into the Athletics clubhouse, it’s not uncommon to see several players gravitate towards one man’s locker. It’s occupied by JJ Bleday, the outfielder that has spent the 2025 season bouncing between the big league club and Triple-A Las Vegas.

Bleday, 27, is beloved by teammates, and while his friendship and camaraderie makes him a popular clubhouse presence, so does his passion for hitting.

“Oh yeah, I love hitting, man,” Bleday said with a chuckle in late April. “My love for it, the science of it, it’s always been there.”

His teammates have recognized it, prompting several to go to him for advice, including Tyler Soderstrom and Max Schuemann. 

Prior to a game against the Texas Rangers at Sutter Health Park earlier this year, Schuemann sat on a nearby couch and watched intently as Bleday got into a batting stance and began discussing his swing path. Soderstrom — after a big series in Colorado in which he drove in four runs on six hits, including a home run — credited Bleday for tweaking his mechanics. 

“Just our team as a whole, you know, we're always trying to pick each other's brains and feed off each other and figure out kind of where our approach is going to be for that night,” Soderstrom told the Journal at the time. “Me and JJ have good conversations, changed my approach, kind of like his with the very similar stances.”

Bleday and Soderstrom each bat left-handed and have an open stance favoring the pull side. Bleday, a former first round pick by the Miami Marlins in 2019 out of Vanderbilt, received advice from hitting coaches Darren Bush and Chris Cron before the 2024 season about getting his foot down earlier when he swung. It led to a breakout campaign in which he slashed .243/.324/.437 with a career-high 20 home runs and 60 RBI.

“I had a pretty high leg kick, and I was always stuck on my backside, and I would just rotate out of my swing. There was no extension through the zone,” Bleday said, picking up a bat and getting into a stance near the middle of the clubhouse.

“When you're just sitting here, land, you’ve got nothing to do besides that,” he said giving an example of a high leg kick landing away from his body. “Whereas, if you get here (the foot down early and closer to the plate), that’s 50-50, you can have more extension. 

“That was one of the reasons why I banged the leg kick, because it feels good one week, and then pitchers adjust, and then it feels like sh-t the next week. Again, it's just going back to that consistency.”

Bleday naturally felt that the suggestion could help Soderstrom. 

“In the instance with Sodey, we come to the ballpark together and we just talk about so much stuff, and he was just asking me questions. I mean, he was already super gifted and talented, so I didn't really want to change anything for him,” Bleday said of the 2020 Turlock High graduate and first round draft pick. “He was just asking about it, and he found his own rhythm and feel with it. That's why he's been doing it. He likes it and is consistent with it.”

Soderstrom is right in the middle of his breakout campaign of his own, entering Friday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles coming off two straight days with home runs. He is slashing .257/.330/.462/.792 with 108 hits, 21 home runs and a team-high 67 RBI though 117 games.

This year hasn’t been quite as good for Bleday, as his slash line dipped to .204/.291/.365 with six homers and 18 RBI through the team’s first 47 games before he was optioned to Las Vegas. After coming back up to fill in for an injured Denzel Clarke before being sent down again over the summer, Bleday stayed true to himself and adjusted, earning his way back to the majors on Aug. 1 and making an immediate impact for an A’s team looking to build a winning culture for future seasons.

In his five games since returning to the A’s dugout, Bleday has a .529 batting average with nine hits, a pair of home runs, seven RBI and five runs scored. Two of those games were some of the best of his four-year career. In Sunday’s 6-4 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, he went 4-for-4 with a solo home run, a double and three runs scored. Two days later in the nation’s capital, he contributed to the 16-7 win by going 4-for-6 with a home run, a double, six RBI and two runs scored.

“We talk about this core group, and JJ is part of this core group, and still is part of this core group,” said A’s manager Mark Kotsay on Wednesday in his pregame media availability. “I thought the rest was great for him. I thought he went down and really worked on driving the ball to all fields. As a result, last night, he hits a home run to dead center. I think that he has made some adjustments that are going to lead to the success.

“It’s nice for him, and obviously for us to have him come back and really swing the bat with the results right away. because that genuinely leads to the confidence that’s needed to have success here. And he’s done it here. I think the opportunity is in front of him to come out and perform, and finish off this season on a great note and really be a contributor to the group. That’s been the idea the whole time.”

“It’s one thing being consistent in the minors and college and all that, but you got to be consistent at the big league level to where your swings are repeatable every single pitch, you're on time as often as you can be, which allows you to just zone in on your approach and make good decisions,” Bleday said.

It’s all wisdom he has learned from the baseball factory that is Vanderbilt and the staff throughout the Marlins and Athletics organizations.

So, does he see himself applying that knowledge and passion into a post-playing career as a hitting coach?

“Yeah, I think so,” Bleday said. “You know, right now I want to play, obviously, as long as I can, for a long time. But yeah, I love hitting, man. I wouldn't mind dabbling in that draft at all and maybe running an offense one day because hitting is fun. Well, it's fun sometimes. That’s why you adjust.”