Could A's Turn Strikeouts Into Wins in 2020?

The A's pitching staff may have more high-strikeout arms this season than in any time in Oakland history. Or in Philadelphia or Kansas City history, to be clear.

A little-noticed statistic from last year was that A’s pitchers struck out 1299 batters.

Given that the Astros struck out 1672, the Red Sox 1633 and the Rays 1621, that the A’s number seems middle of the pack. It’s not quite that. Oakland, in fact, ranked 22nd in MLB in strikeouts recorded by its pitchers.

What makes the A’s 1299 strikeouts interesting is this: it was the best any A’s club had ever done, Philadelphia, Kansas City or Oakland. The A’s have had some big strikeout guys, including Vida Blue’s 301 in 1971. To get an idea of what kind of Oakland outlier that season was, of the nine best single-season strikeout performances by an A’s pitcher, Blue’s is the only one since 1930.

Four of the A’s top five single-season strikeout seasons come from Hall of Famer Rube Waddell, who fanned 349 for Philadelphia in 1904. Even so, that was in part a function of the 383 innings Waddell threw that year. He struck out fewer than one batter every nine innings, and the 1904 team as a whole fanned just 887.

The fact is, the A’s have never, ever really focused on having a high-strikeout pitching staff. Lowest ERA? Sure. The A’s had the AL West’s best ERA five years running from 1971-75. Strikeouts? Not so much.

We bring this up in the wake of A’s rookie starter Jesus Luzardo striking out eight in a 3.1-inning effort against the Mariners Saturday.

The A’s actually have a bunch of strikeout pitchers this year. If everybody stays healthy and if past performances indicate future success, the A’s could crush their old strikeout record.

Luzardo has struck out more than one batter per inning in each of his minor league season and fanned 16 in 12 innings in his big-league debut in the bullpen last year. He’s in the rotation this time around.

Sean Manaea can’t claim that level of strikeout dominance, but he did strike out 30 in 29.2 innings after his return from injury last year. He’s got some strikeout game.

A.J. Puk won’t start the season in the rotation thanks to some shoulder issues, but he’s expected to be in there before long. Puk, like Luzardo, has always rung up more than one batter per inning in his minor-league career. He struck out 13 in 11.1 innings in his Oakland debut last summer.

Frankie Montas is close to striking out one per inning for his career (202 strikeouts in 208 career innings). He’s due to get a full season in the rotation after missing half of 2019 thanks to a PED suspension.

The one non-strikeout intense guy in the rotation is probable opening day starter Mike Fiers, who laughingly told the A’s media the other day that he had the worst stuff of anybody in the rotation.

Chris Bassitt, who started 25 games last year and who is likely to sub for Puk until the lefty is ready to serve as a starter, actually led the A’s in strikeouts last season, 141 in 144 innings, again almost one per nine innings.

At the back end of the bullpen, closer Liam Hendriks has always been a high strikeout pitcher. And he is coming off an All-Star season in which his numbers were monstrous as his velocity went up – 124 strikeouts in just 85 innings.

Right-handers Joakim Soria (79 strikeouts in 69 innings) and Lou Trivino (57 in 60) are big strikeout guys, as is lefty Jake Diekman, who had 84 strikeouts in 62 innings split between the Royals and the A’s last season.

Strikeouts aren’t wins. The A’s focus is 2020 will be on matching or surpassing their 97 wins of 2018 and 2019. But strikeouts can dim opposing offenses, so if the A’s make a run at the club strikeout record, wins could be a residue.