A's Rotation Appears Set with Plenty of Upside

There has been some slight doubt about who would be the fifth member of the A's rotation, based off of Jacob Lopez's late start to camp and questions about whether he'd have enough time to ramp up for the season. On Saturday against the Kansas City Royals, all of those doubts were completely removed.

The left-hander fired four no-hit innings, walking one (the first batter of the game) while striking out seven. He was immediately back to being the pitcher we saw last season that had some Cy Young attributes.

During his dominant stretch from July 26 to August 12, he made four starts, allowing just 14 hits across 24 innings of work while walking six and striking out 28. He was the most valuable pitcher in baseball for a few weeks, racking up 1.2 fWAR.

While he finished with a 4.08 ERA on the season, he allowed nine earned across two innings in his final start of the campaign, before his season ended early with a left elbow flexor strain. Going into that start, he'd held a 3.28 ERA, aided by that stretch of being the best pitcher in baseball.

There was a point where it looked like he could join Nick Kurtz and Jacob Wilson in the AL Rookie of the Year award voting, with the A's potentially sweeping all three spots the way the lefty was firing the ball late in the season.

Following his outing against the Royals this weekend, it seems pretty clear that he'll be in the A's rotation, and they'll do what they need to in order to get him stretched out for the start of the season. He threw 52 pitches on Saturday and has one more available start during spring games to make.

Starting five

With Lopez looking like a member of the rotation now, the A's rotation looks to be set for the beginning of the season. While an official announcement hasn't been made, it would appear as though Luis Severino will be the Opening Day starter for a second straight season.

The reason this hasn't been made official is likely because he's been off pitching Team Dominican Republic to the semifinals. He'll be taking on Team USA on Sunday with a chance to get his team to the finals.

Behind him will be the veterans, Jeffrey Springs and Aaron Civale. Springs (13.50 ERA) and Civale (9.39) haven't produced the best results this spring, but they'll be ready to go when the season begins in Toronto. These three pitchers will be the projected starters for that opening series against the Blue Jays.

Behind them will be Lopez, who has a real shot at being a breakout star for the A's over the course of a full season, and Luis Morales, who also impressed in his debut last season. Morales has also struggled in camp, but there is a reason for that. He should be ready to go in a couple of weeks in Atlanta.

While the A's rotation as a whole is by no means a sure thing, they do have three veteran arms, including Luis Severino, who appears to be on a mission at the moment. He turned things around at home towards the end of the season, so the hope is that he can continue along that path into 2026, setting up the rest of this group for success.

Waiting in the minors is No. 3 prospect Gage Jump, who could rocket his way into the rotation with a few good starts at the beginning of the season. J.T. Ginn is another option for making starts, and Jack Perkins is getting the start in camp on Sunday, which should mean he's still viewed as a starting pitcher for the time being.

This group has upside built in, and the A's front office will be searching for the right group of five all season. The good news is, they'll have a number of options to choose from if a change is needed, which should lead to more success than people are expecting from this group over the course of 162.

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