A's Claim Right-Hander From Boston, Release Garett Acton
In the middle of the Shintaro Fujinami trade breaking, the A's also announced another move, claiming 31-year-old right-hander Tayler Scott off waivers from the Boston Red Sox. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, the team released reliever Garrett Acton, who has been on the IL in Las Vegas since June 14.
Scott was drafted out of high school by the Chicago Cubs in the fifth round of the 2011 Draft. After making numerous stops, he signed as a free agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers this past off-season, and was purchased by the Red Sox on June 22. Between the two clubs he has amassed a 7.45 ERA across 9.2 innings to go along with ten strikeouts and eight walks.
The righty has three pitches: a slider, a sinker, and a changeup. He's also thrown a handful of four-seamers. The slider is his most-used pitch at 50%, and it has averaged 84 miles per hour this season. His sinker comes in at 94 and his change is right around 87.
Check out this offering to Anthony Volpe earlier this season:
Scott has only thrown 25 changeups in the big leagues this season, but the offering has a 66.7% whiff rate, an average launch angle of -87 degrees (on five batted balls), and an average exit velocity of 55.2 mph. The change wasn't in his arsenal back in 2019, and he's only thrown 29 of them in parts of two seasons at the big-league level, but that could be something the A's have him use a little more.
While Scott is on the 40-man roster, he hasn't been added to the active roster just yet. That move could be coming as the A's have yet to announce who will take the roster spot previously held by Fujinami, or the one that was left vacant by Ryan Noda's trip to the IL.
As for Garrett Acton, you may remember him making his big-league debut on Mother's Day earlier this season. He got into six games with Oakland, totaling 5.2 innings pitched and held a 12.71 ERA. He'd been doing well in his return to Las Vegas up until his final outing on June 11 where he gave up seven runs in one inning, raising his ERA from 3.54 to 5.59. Acton has been out of action ever since.
Melissa Lockard of The Athletic pointed out that minor leaguer Jorge Juan was released last season while injured and later re-signed with the A's for different terms, and that could potentially be what's at work here with Acton--or at least that is what the A's are hoping will happen.
Regardless of what happens with Acton, Scott could be a nice pickup for the A's, and Oakland offers him something that not many other clubs can give him: a little time to figure things out at the Major League level.