Former New York Mets Prospect to Make his 2025 Debut Against Former Club

Sep 3, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher J.T. Ginn (70) delivers a pitch against the Seattle Mariners during the fourth inning at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images | D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

The Athletics have officially announced that they are calling up right-hander J.T. Ginn, while designating left-handed reliever Angel Perdomo for assignment.

Ginn was originally acquired by the A's in the Chris Bassitt trade with the New York Mets back in March of 2022. Righty Adam Oller also headed to Oakland in the deal.

Bassitt ended up holding a 3.42 ERA in his lone season with the Mets, making 30 starts and spanning 181.2 innings of work. He would reach free agency the following offseason, signing with the Toronto Blue Jays on a three-year, $63 million pact.

At the time of the trade, Ginn was a fairly recent draftee of the Mets, selected in the second round of the 2020 MLB Draft out of Mississippi State. He had some injury issues in both '22 and '23, limiting him to 69 innings of work combined between the two seasons in the minors.

Last year he made 21 appearances (20 starts) and covered 102.2 innings, holding a 5.26 ERA in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He also made his MLB debut last year in Oakland on August 21 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

He ended up making eight appearances (six starts), going 34 innings and holding a 4.24 ERA with a 1.32 WHIP. Ginn came into camp as a longshot to make the rotation, though as we discussed last November, his arsenal may be a better fit at Sutter Health Park due to his high ground ball rates in the minors.

In two Triple-A starts this season, Ginn's ground ball rate sits at a whopping 56.3%, and on top of that he's also struck out 51.4% of the batters he's faced. If he can repeat those two metrics, no ballpark in Major League Baseball will impact his performance. He holds a 1.64 ERA through 11 innings of work.

The A's optioned number five starter Joey Estes to Las Vegas at the beginning of the week after two poor outings where his velocity dipped and his command wasn't on point. Ginn will be taking that fifth spot in the rotation for the time being.

Now Ginn will get his first opportunity to face the team that drafted him, on Saturday in West Sacramento. He was also the starting pitcher for the Athletics' final game in Oakland, so this is quite a back-to-back start sequence for him at the Major League level.