The Strategy Behind A's Pitchers Chosen to Head to Las Vegas This Weekend
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The A's and Los Angeles Angels met up on Thursday for the first time this spring, with the green and gold putting up 16 runs—including an eight-run second inning—in their 16-11 win. The hope is that the bats continue to show up against the Angels when the two clubs travel to Las Vegas this weekend for a quick two-game set in front of the A's soon-to-be home fans.
We now also know a number of the pitchers that the A's plan on using over the weekend.
Pitchers that are scheduled for the A's weekend trip to Vegas (thus far): Gage Jump, Mark Leiter Jr., Scott Barlow, Michael Kelly, Tyler Ferguson, Nick Anderson, Joel Kuhnel, A.J. Causey. On Sunday Aaron Civale is the only one listed currently.
— Jason Burke (@ByJasonB) March 5, 2026
On Saturday, they'll be handing the ball off to Gage Jump to start things off, and he's expected to be followed by RHP Mark Leiter Jr., RHP Scott Barlow, RHP Michael Kelly, RHP Tyler Ferguson, RHP Nick Anderson, RHP Joel Kuhnel and RHP A.J. Causey in some order.
Jump is the A's No. 3 overall prospect, and the No. 57 prospect in all of baseball. He's also likely to begin the season in Triple-A Las Vegas after a dominant first professional season split between High-A and Double-A.
On Sunday, there is only one announced pitcher for the A's thus far, and that's free agent signing Aaron Civale, who will be in the big-league rotation when the season opens up.
The marketing strategy being deployed by the A's
On Saturday, the A's are deploying Jump on the bump as a mix between a marketing strategy and a way to hopefully get him familiar and potentially even comfortable with Las Vegas Ballpark before the season even begins. If Jump goes out and dominates a big-league lineup, then taking on minor leaguers on that same field may seem simple by comparison.
That could also mean that he would be ready to join the A's pitching staff even sooner.
The other plus here is that by the time Jump and the A's make it to Vegas in 2028, there will be a group of people that could say "I saw him when" as a cool story before he's pitching huge innings in the postseason. At least that's the long-term hope here for fans and the marketing department alike.
Following behind Jump you have Leiter and Barlow, along with Sunday's starter Civale. This could be a simple way to get the Vegas base excited about the new additions to the club for 2027, but unlike Jump, they're not expected to be around when the A's make it to Vegas in a couple of years.
Instead, the trio's inclusion could be more based around ballpark factors.
The on-field strategy at play
This trio of arms didn't gather much experience pitching in the minor-league park the A's call home last season, with Leiter throwing all of eight pitches as a member of the Yankees, Civale avoiding Sacramento altogether, and Barlow notching 35 pitches at Sutter Health Park. One of those was the grand slam that Nick Kurtz hit over 493 feet over the batter's eye.
The man who threw this pitch is now a member of the A’s too! pic.twitter.com/JdA6NmqduC
— Jason Burke (@ByJasonB) February 7, 2026
While getting a little work at Las Vegas Ballpark won't be the exact same thing as pitching in Sacramento, it is useful experience given that Vegas Ballpark is one of the more hitter-friendly parks in the Pacific Coast League. By comparison, Sutter Health Park is a pitcher's park, despite coming in second in MLB park factors last season, trailing just Coors Field in Colorado.
By comparison, the A's will be rolling with Mason Barnett, Hogan Harris, Justin Sterner and Matt Krook in their game against the Chicago Cubs back in Arizona, and Jacob Lopez will be making his spring debut against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Most of those players had a good chunk of innings in Sacramento last season and know what to expect.
Both games will take place at 4:05 p.m. (ET), 1:05 p.m. (PT), and will be available to watch for the fans in Las Vegas on FOX 5.
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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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