MESA, Ariz. >> The A’s have had some quality catchers over the last 15-plus years, with Kurt Suzuki, Stephen Vogt and, most recently, Sean Murphy, becoming fan favorites during their tenures as everyday backstops.

It’s a mold that Shea Langeliers has a chance to fit into this season.

The 25-year-old catcher is expected to compete for the starting job this spring alongside veteran Manny Piña, a gleaming chance that he wants to seize ahead of his anticipated first-full season in the major leagues.

It’s one Langeliers is taking in stride with a sense of composure as he “goes with the flow.”

“I’m looking at it as an opportunity,” Langeliers said. “Whether you got a guy like Sean Murphy, an unbelievable player, and he’s going to do great things in his career. When you’re behind a guy like that and you watch him play and you watch how he handles himself, it only makes you better in the process. And with Manny Piña being here, a veteran guy, he’s caught a lot of baseball games.”

As a late-season call-up last season, Langeliers got a taste of the fast-paced environment of the big leagues. It was humbling.

Langeliers was promoted after he hit .283/.366/.510 in 92 games with Triple-A Las Vegas. In 142 at-bats with the A’s, Langeliers hit .218 and posted a .691 OPS from mid-August to the end of the season. He had six home runs and 22 runs batted in, but struck out 53 times and walked just nine times.

He had somewhat of a late resurgence during the final few weeks of the season, which he hopes to ride into the beginning of this year.

“I went through the growing pains,” Langeliers said. “I don’t want to go up there and try to do too much. I want to go to the plate every time and be myself with the right aggression in the right spot. Once you can slow that game down and kind of just focus on what you need to focus on it makes it a little bit easier.”

A’s manager Mark Kotsay echoed a similar sentiment Friday regarding Langeliers’ adjustment, but he also touted the development that occurred during his time in the big leagues last year that led to better results toward the end of the season. Langeliers logged 11 hits over the final 12 games of the year, which included a two-homer game against the Mariners in Oakland’s final road game of the season on Oct. 2.

“The major league level, when you get here, the league kind of feels you out,” Kotsay said. “They make adjustments, and they made adjustments to Shea and it may have taken a little bit for him to make the adjustments to cover what (pitchers) were exploiting in him offensively, but he did that. And we saw that growth.”

Langeliers’ growth hasn’t been limited to his approach at the plate.

With a slew of new faces joining the A’s pitching staff, along with a large chunk of returners, Langeliers has prioritized familiarizing himself with each pitcher he has caught early in camp, an ongoing process that he hopes will pay dividends throughout the season.

Thursday, he caught Shintaro Fujinami’s first bullpen session of the spring, lauding how “nasty” the newcomer’s pitch mix was at first glance.

“The more comfortable you can be with the guy that is on the mound, the better they’re going to perform, the better they are going to compete,” Langeliers said. “When pitchers want to throw to you, it kind of lengthens your career, too, because they want you behind the plate.”

Langeliers isn’t alone in his development either. He has Piña, a nine-year major leaguer whom the A’s acquired in the three-team trade that sent Murphy to the Braves over the offseason. Piña spent a brief time mentoring Langeliers when the two were with Atlanta, where Langeliers was a top-10 catching prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.

“I knew him a little bit when he was in Atlanta for maybe two or three weeks and now I have the opportunity to help him and be open with him in any way he needs from me,” Piña said. “So I think he has a lot of talent, he’s a young guy that can show that talent in the big leagues very soon.

“He’s got that talent, he just needs to play more and have more experience.”

That’s exactly what Langeliers wants to gain more of this season: experience.

His campaign for a starting role will take place over the course of the spring among a young group of backstops that features non-roster invitees Tyler Soderstrom (Oakland’s No. 1 overall prospect last season) and 2022 first-round draft pick Daniel Susac. Langeliers’ fast ascent through the minor leagues has put him in the position to make an immediate impact this year. Now, he’s just focused on trying to take it.

“I think I’m zoned in on what I’m trying to achieve,” Langeliers said. “Eventually, it’ll be nice to look back and see the journey, but right now I’m keeping my focus on getting better and getting better with these guys and being the best team we can be.”