A's Rotation Has Numerous Options, Few Certainties

As we near 2023, the competition for a spot in the A's rotation is set up to be fierce during Spring Training

A's starting pitching wasn't necessarily a strong suit for them in 2022, with the twelve pitchers that started a game for them finishing 29th in fWAR (3.5) and 26th in ERA at 4.69. 

The A's traded their best starter from last season in Frankie Montas at the trade deadline. Austin Pruitt started one game in a spot start, but he too is no longer with the club. Daulton Jefferies underwent Tommy John surgery in September, so he is out for the 2023 season. Zach Logue was just designated for assignment. Jared Koenig is currently a free agent. 

James Kaprielian is dealing with an injury currently, and reportedly won't be ready to be in the rotation come opening day. 

That leaves just two pitchers, Cole Irvin, whose 3.98 ERA led the team at the end of the season, and All Star Paul Blackburn, as the two returning veteran options for Opening Day 2023. Blackburn finished his season with a 4.28 ERA after dominating for the first few weeks of the season before injury took him out after the All Star break. 

From there, the rotation is wide open. 

34-year-old righty Drew Rucinski signed with the A's earlier this week, and has been a reliable option the last four years playing in Korea for the NC Dinos. He has made at least 30 starts each of the last four seasons, including posting a 2.97 ERA across 193 2/3 innings in 2022. He's also the only rotation hopeful set to make above the league minimum. 

Left-hander Ken Waldichuk was the centerpiece of the return for Montas, and is currently the A's #2 prospect on MLB Pipeline. He started seven games down the stretch for the A's, picking up wins against Jacob deGrom and Shohei Ohtani. He also had a solid final two outings of the season, going 12 combined innings, allowing six hits, one earned run, walking three and striking out twelve. He finished the season with a 4.93 ERA.

Lefty JP Sears was another piece of the Montas trade, and he had an up-and-down time in the rotation, but showed lots of promise. He was solid in his first four starts with the A's, posting a 2.53 ERA in August, then had three rough starts in September before firing six shutout, two-hit innings against the Mariners to wrap up his season. He faced the Mariners big trade deadline acquisition, Luis Castillo, three times in his ten starts with Oakland, and pitched better than the Seattle righty each time out. 

Adrián Martínez, 26, has a ridiculous amount of movement on his changeup and could be one pitch away from being a completely different pitcher than what he showed in 2022. He finished the season with a 6.24 ERA and a 5.35 FIP and was dinged by the long ball, giving up a home run on 19.7% of his fly balls. Through his first seven starts he held a 4.37 ERA, but in his eighth start, against the White Sox, they inflated his season numbers as he allowed seven runs on 14 hits in 3 2/3 innings. He never really recovered from that start. 

Adam Oller, 28, was the A's worst starter by ERA (6.69) and fWAR (-1.1), but the month of August that he turned in was impressive. He entered the month with a 7.68 ERA, and in five starts he lowered that by two full runs, posting a 3.03 ERA in five starts. The final two of the month were the outliers, with one outing against the Miami Marlins when he just didn't have command over any of his pitches, but the bullpen had been used heavily, so they needed Oller to give them some length--and he did. He gutted through six innings, allowing three earned on five hits and five walks, striking out just two, and tossing 111 pitches. Just 62 of those were for strikes. In his next outing he absolutely dominated the New York Yankees, going eight shutout frames, with the first six being no-hit innings in a game that was tied by a Stephen Vogt two-run homer in extras. Oller landed on the IL for about a month, but made two quick forgettable appearances to close his season out. 

Then, there's former #6 overall pick, A.J. Puk, who will reportedly be stretched out during Spring Training. Puk was the A's third-best reliever by WAR in 2022, finishing the campaign with a 3.12 ERA, and most importantly, he made it through the entire season healthy, totaling 66 1/3 innings. Even if Puk were to make the rotation, it's hard to see a path to him increasing his workload much past 100 cumulative innings in 2023, but he's in the mix. 

Kyle Muller, a 25-year-old lefty acquired in the Sean Murphy deal, has a decent shot at making the rotation as well, because part of the reason that he was available is that Atlanta couldn't give him the time at the big league level that he needs to develop. He finished 2022 with an 8.03 ERA in three starts for Atlanta. 

Freddy Tarnok, another piece of the Murphy trade, is more likely to make the roster as a member of the bullpen, but he has pitched mostly as a starter in the professional ranks. In Triple-A last season he totaled 44 innings and a 3.68 ERA. 

These are just the guys vying for a rotation spot come Opening Day. As the season progresses, Mason Miller, Luis Medina, and Hogan Harris could all find themselves in the mix as well. 

It's going to be a very interesting spring.