A's Add Former Yankees Reliever as Bullpen Depth Option
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Last night we reported that the A's had optioned starter Luis Morales to Triple-A Las Vegas after a pair of rough outings and some direct words from manager Mark Kotsay following his Saturday start. The corresponding move was made official today, with veteran relief pitcher Joel Kuhnel joining the A's roster ahead of their series against the New York Yankees.
He spent the entirety of last season in Triple-A, beginning the year in the Philadelphia Phillies system, and after his release in early July, signed on with the Yankees for the remainder of the year. He reached free agency after the season and ended up signing with the A's in December.
Last year he posted a combined 3.53 ERA between the two spots, spanning 63 2/3 innings. He also struck out 21.6% of the hitters he faced, while walking just 4.2% of them. That walk rate is a big reason why he's the pick for the A's at this moment, given that they walked 29 total batters over the weekend against the Houston Astros. That was nearly ten per game.
What he brings to the A's bullpen
While the A's have a lot of talented arms in the bullpen, they're not exactly a tested bunch outside of veterans Scott Barlow and Mark Leiter Jr. Adding Kuhnel will give them another arm with some experience in the mix, and another relief option for this series against the Yankees, just in case the starters don't go deep. The A's will need a starting pitcher later this week against the Mets.
A's starters completed five innings in just two of last week's six games.
In his three scoreless innings of work this season, he has yet to allow a hit, walked just one, and struck out six. That's a pretty dominant start to a season. In his second outing, he went two innings, which is another added bonus to having him on the roster. Having multiple pitchers in the bullpen that can go multiple innings is always a plus.
The biggest difference between when he was last in the majors in 2024 and now is that he's relying more on his sinker, going from 16% usage to 43% in his most recent appearance. He's also added some velocity to his arsenal, with his entire pitch mix jumping up between 1.3 miles per hour and 2.1 mph.
The sinker is the one that's now sitting at 96, up from 93.9.
On top of hitting higher velocities and moving the sinker up in his arsenal, he's also working with a slider (29%) that sits at 91.3 mph, four-seamer (18%), changeup (7%) and curveball (4%). Those pitches have all combined to give him a ground ball rate of 65.4% last year, and 66.7% in the early going this season. That will be welcome feature for the A's bullpen.
To make room for Kuhnel on the 40-man roster, the A's transferred Gunnar Hoglund to the 60-day IL. He was originally placed on the 15-day IL with a lumbar spine strain, but as he was rehabbing that injury in West Sacramento, he developed symptoms related to a left hip impingement and is undergoing further evaluation.
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Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.
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