Colton Eastman Debuts for Vegas, Miguel Romero's Changeup

Wednesday night saw the organizational debut of right-hander Colton Eastman, who was released by the Philadelphia Phillies at the end of March and signed on with the A's on a minor-league deal a few days later.

The 26-year-old Eastman, a Fresno native, had been having a decent debut for the first three innings. Then an error by Tyler Wade in the fourth inning opened the door to three unearned runs crossing the plate and spoiling Eastman's Vegas venture.

Per Statcast, Eastman threw six different pitches topping out at 91.8 mph with his sinker with his 77.9 mph curve qualifying as his slowest pitch of the night. He also worked in a changeup, slider, cutter, and 4-seamer, and every pitch was used between 11-25% of the time, leading me to believe that Eastman's game is to have a lot of pitches and keep hitters guessing by mixing those pitches effectively. We'll have to keep an eye on that pitch mix to see how true this ends up being.

His final line for the evening: 3.2 IP, 3 hits, 5 runs (2 ER), BB, 4 K. He threw eleven sliders in total, and got four swings on those sliders. All four swings resulted in whiffs. Three of the four strikeouts he recorded were swings and misses on that slider, with the fourth punch-out coming on a changeup that caught Michael Busch looking.

On offense, the Aviators didn't get much going. They scored one run in the 8-1 loss, and that run came in the second inning. Kyle McCann collected his first hit of the 2023 campaign to lead off the bottom of the second, and that was promptly followed by a single from Pablo Reyes. Cal Stevenson flew out to right, and McCann advanced to third.

Then, Reyes stole second and McCann stole home on a double steal. You may remember McCann's name since he was in the mix to be Oakland's backup catcher on Opening Day before the team signed veteran Carlos Pérez. No Aviators recorded an rbi on Wednesday because KYLE McCANN STOLE HOME.

Jordan Díaz, playing second base, collected the hardest hit ball of the night on a single in the first that was 109.5 off the bat. It had a launch angle of -15 degrees, but it was crushed.

Those three hits were all that Las Vegas could muster on offense outside of a Pablo Reyes walk off of former A's reliever Tyler Cyr in the bottom of the seventh.

Another former A's reliever, Adam Kolarek (back with the Dodgers), pitched a scoreless eighth, striking out one.

Miguel Romero tossed another scoreless frame in this one, while allowing his first hit of the season (3 IP). The 28-year-old threw just 13 pitches in the inning, and 11 of them were changeups. The two sliders he threw were called balls.

Chad Smith, whom the A's acquired from the Colorado Rockies this off-season, had a rough outing. He pitched the eighth inning and allowed just one hit while also striking out the side, but he walked three in the inning. Steven Duggar started the inning with a double, then the rest of the inning went strikeout, walk, walk, walk, strikeout, strikeout. He allowed one run, but needed 39 pitches to get through the frame. 18 of those pitches were balls.

I asked A's manager Mark Kotsay about Smith ahead of Tuesday's game, and he said that if Chad goes out and keeps pitching like he was during the spring, it should be a quick trip for him in Triple-A. The 27-year-old right-hander racked up 7.2 spring innings in March and allowed just one hit, walking four, and striking out eight.

JJ Bleday and Tyler Soderstrom both went 0-for-4 in this one. Dérmis Garcia also went 0-for-4, but struck out four times. Garcia had struck out just twice in his first three games combined.

The loss drops the Aviators to 1-4.

On tap for tomorrow: Colin Peluse takes the ball for Las Vegas. The Stockton Ports open their season against the Modesto Nuts at Banner Island. The Midland RockHounds also open up their season, but they'll be on the road facing NW Arkansas. The Ports and 'Hounds have not named their starters for Thursday night.

Of note?: Kevin Smith was out of the lineup on Wednesday night. I asked and nobody had heard anything, so it looks as though it's just a planned day off for the Las Vegas shortstop.

Tyler Soderstrom played his first game at first base on Wednesday with McCann behind the dish. The A's 21-year-old top prospect had the second-hardest hit ball of the night, a 108 mile per hour groundout in the third.

New Addition!: The A's reportedly signed 35-year-old reliever Spencer Patton to a minor league deal on Wednesday, and given that he has spent time between the big leagues and Triple-A, looks like a lock to join the Aviators 'pen once the deal is official.