A's No. 1 Pitching Prospect Jamie Arnold Adds Weapons For Pro Ball Debut
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For the first time since June of 2025, Jamie Arnold was on a mound pitching in a game on Friday. This time though, he was facing the Kansas City Royals in Spring Training.
The A's selected the talented left-hander with the No. 11 overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, and he did not pitch in a game the rest of the minor-league season. It's the same path that another top left-hander for the A's, Gage Jump, took after he was selected in 2024.
So what has he been up to this entire time?
He said on A's Cast, "I've added a couple pitches. I've been working on a cutter a lot. Once you get up to this level, you can't have just two pitches. In college, I relied on two pitches, so working on the cutter, the changeup has made a big stride. I think it's going to be really good heading into the year.
"Really, throwing as many pitches as I can, and trying to see hitters as—with my arsenal—using it as lefties and righties. It's easy to get righties out in college if you've got a good slider and a good fastball. It's not as easy in the pros. That's where the cutter is going to come in with the changeup."
How did he look?
While the A's ended up on the short end of stick on Friday, dropping the game 7-6 to the Royals, Arnold came on in the bottom of the fourth inning and was one of just two pitchers for the A's that didn't give up a hard-hit ball in their time on the mound.
Arnold led with the four-seamer, which averaged 94.8 miles per hour, followed by his slider (87.9), sinker (93.9) and changeup (86.8). According to the Statcast data, he didn't unleash that new cutter in this game, though that could just be a technological error. At the same time, Arnold and the coaching staff may not have deemed it ready for game action just yet.
He mentioned that having a good slider was a key to getting college hitters out, and he hurled six of them at Royals hitters today, generating two swings (and one called strike). Both of the swings resulted in whiffs, and both of the whiffs came from Isaac Collins to end the inning.
The inning began with a single on a ground ball that had an exit velocity of just 57.5 miles per hour. Arnold then walked Bobby Witt Jr., who had homered in his previous at-bat, putting runners at first and second. That is, until Drew Waters attemped to steal third base and was caught. Witt moved up to second on the play.
From there, he struck out Maikel Garcia, with the third strike being a challenged ball that turned into his first pro punch-out. Arnold then hit Salvador Perez with a slider, and then got Collins swinging to end his inning of work.
All in all, the left-hander threw 18 pitches, with just eight for strikes. Nerves and adrenaline were likely huge factors in this one, and he was still able to get through unscathed. Next time out, we'll be looking for a few more strike calls, but all in all, this was a solid debut for a highly touted player.
There's even a chance that he can climb his way to the big leagues in 2026, if he pitches how everyone expects.
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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