Former New York Yankees Prospect Could Have Variety of Roles in A's Bullpen

Sep 29, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Mitch Spence (40) pitches to the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at T-Mobile Park. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-Imagn Images | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Coming off a 2023 campaign that saw the Athletics lose 112 games, the club ended up with the No. 1 pick in that winter's Rule 5 Draft, which they used to select New York Yankees prospect Mitch Spence.

As is typically the case for A's Rule 5 guys, he made the team out of camp, as a member of the bullpen pitching in long relief. In that '23 season, the A's struggled to get innings from their starters in the opening month, and it gassed their bullpen throughout the course of April. The inability to throw strikes was prevalent.

With Spence and Kyle Muller in the bullpen able to eat innings, A's manager Mark Kotsay had more options to work with to preserve his bullpen in the early days of the season.

Yet, when injuries started to decimate the A's rotation in May, Spence was thrust into a starting role just a month into his big league career. Granted, the righty had been a starter in the minors, so this was nothing new for him.

He ended up posting a 4.58 ERA across 151.1 innings of work last year, and built a reputation as a strike thrower. Given his experience in the bullpen a year ago, he will be starting this season in that same position, but he may not have the same long man role that he did last season.

When asked if Spence would be a long man that could spot start, Kotsay elaborated to reporters in Arizona on Thursday about what his place in the bullpen would entail.

"Spence will be a variety of things. To me, he's the joker in the deck, where you can use him in any capacity out of the bullpen. You could spot start with him, you could open a game with him. You could pitch him in the eighth inning if you need a leverage guy. I think he has all the weapons to do that and have success.

"My conversation with him, it was a big reason why we moved him into the 'pen, to impact more games for us."

Given the A's optimism surrounding their revamped starting rotation, there isn't going to be a clear day when Spence is going to need to be ready just in case, so having him work in a number of different roles as the "joker" reliever is certainly going to be interesting to see unfold.

With the Athletics hoping to reach at least the .500 mark, if not contend for the AL West title, the key relievers will likely be in use a bit more than in the previous three seasons.

That could lead to the key leverage guys like Mason Miller, José Leclerc, Michel Otañez, and Tyler Ferguson getting a day off in a game where the A's need to nail down a win.

With Spence apparently in the mix to pitch the eighth inning as well as being a spot starter or an opener, that could help relieve some of the pressure that the rest of the arms in the bullpen have to deal with over the course of 162.