A's Take Right-Hander From San Francisco Giants in Rule 5 Draft

The A's have added some velocity to their bullpen

Jul 14, 2023; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; San Francisco Giants hat and glove on the bench against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

The Athletics have added a big arm to their bullpen mix in the Rule 5 Draft, and as we mentioned could be a possibility, that arm came from the San Francisco Giants. The thought process here is that a pitcher from the Giants system would already be familiar with pitching in the A's (and River Cats') home ballpark in Sacramento.

The pitcher in question is Ryan Watson, a 6-foot-5, 28-year-old right-hander that spent all of the 2025 campaign in Triple-A Sacramento, and finished with a 4.26 ERA in 46 appearances spanning 50 2/3 innings of work. He also held a 3.73 FIP, so the expectation may be for a league average arm when facing big-league competition.

At home, Watson held a 3.42 ERA across 23 2/3 innings.

Watson struck out an impressive 28.1% of the batters he faced, while walking 7%. Those rates both stack up with a relief pitcher that has been seen as a decent target for the A's this winter in Luke Weaver, who finished with a 27.5% strikeout rate and a 7.6% walk rate. Of course, Watson will be making his MLB debut if he makes the A's Opening Day roster and is not an established big-leaguer.

One notable stat that sticks out here is that he held a .373 BABIP last season, by far the highest of his career. That should suggest a pretty decent regression to the mean in 2026, which the A's could be looking to capitalize on.

This is an interesting selection, given that the A's had to place Osvaldo Bido on waivers, where he was scooped up by the Atlanta Braves last week, in order to make this pick. The logic here is likely that Watson offers more upside potential than yet another starter turned reliever that they've been working with for a couple of seasons.

Prior to the Rule 5 Draft, MLB.com had this to say of Watson's potential selection: "The 6-foot-5 right-hander spent the 2025 season with Triple-A Sacramento, saving nine games and striking out 11.4 per nine (vs. just 2.8 BB/9 but an inflated 10.3 hits/9), employing a fastball that can touch 97 mph and breaking stuff that elicited a 40 percent miss rate in the PCL."

The one interesting piece of this addition to the roster is that not only is he a talented pitcher that could be a big addition to the A's, but how will this ripple throughout the rest of the A's roster? They could still use a veteran relief pitcher to close out games, and they have a number of arms that performed well last season that are locked into their current roles.

Yet, they'll have Watson and Luis Medina, both of whom need to be on the roster, or the team could lose them. They'll also have a number of starting pitchers that won't make the rotation, but could be seen as relief options, but only one or potentially two of those players could end up making the team.

This spring is going to be very interesting in terms of roster construction, with all of the various variables.