Former New York Mets Prospect May be Ready to Join A's Rotation Soon

Aug 24, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics pitcher J.T. Ginn (70) throws a pitch against the Milwaukee Brewers during the eighth inning at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images | Robert Edwards-Imagn Images

After getting absolutely hammered in their first home series in Sacramento and outscored 35-9 by the Chicago Cubs over three games, the Athletics may look to make a change in the starting rotation if things continue like that much longer.

One player that has stood out early on in the Triple-A season is former New York Mets prospect, J.T. Ginn. The 25-year-old right-hander was acquired from the Mets back in March of 2022 as the main piece in the Chris Bassitt trade. Former A's righty Adam Oller was the other part of the return.

In two outings for Triple-A Las Vegas, both at home in a hitter-friendly park, Ginn has totaled 11 innings pitched, giving up two earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out a whopping 19 batters. That's good for a 1.64 ERA.

Obviously there is a large gap in between pitching in the minors--even at Triple-A--and the big-leagues, but Ginn may be better suited to take on innings in Sacramento, as we mentioned last November. The big reason for that thought process was that his ground ball rate at every stop in the minor leagues was above 50%, sitting at 53.9% with the Aviators a year ago.

In last night's game against the Sacramento River Cats (the Athletics roommates at Sutter Health Park), Ginn went six innings, allowed four hits and one walk, which led to a single run for the 'Cats. He also struck out 11 batters in that span and his groundout to flyout ratio was 5:0. Those metrics would play in any ballpark.

The key for Ginn this season has been his slider, which has been absolutely dominating. In his two starts combined, he has generated 18 swings on the slider, and of those 18 swings, 14 of them have resulted in a whiff. That's a 78% whiff rate, and on Thursday night in Las Vegas, eight of the nine sliders that were swung at were whiffed on, good for 89%.

In that first start, he was predominantly throwing just his sinker (64%) and his slider (30%) while mixing in four four-seamers. Last night, he mixed it up a bit more, going sinker (62%), slider (20%), four-seam (13%), and changeup (5%) on 82 pitches.

Ginn made his MLB debut in August of last season coming out of the bullpen, but by the end of the month, he was in the A's starting rotation, and even started the team's final game at the Oakland Coliseum in front of a packed house. In his 34 innings of work, he held a 4.24 ERA in eight outings (six starts).

Typically, the A's wouldn't make a move this early into the season because they haven't even gone two times through the rotation. Yet, right-hander Joey Estes, a promising right-hander with the club, had a tough first outing in Sacramento, and is slated to pitch on Sunday at Coors Field. He's a fly ball pitcher, which may not be the right skill set for either of those spots.

Conversely, Ginn is showing a knack for strikeouts this season, keeps the ball on the ground, and has really improved his command going back to last year, where his walk rate was just 8.8% in the minors and 6.3% in his time with the A's.

Those are all tools that the A's should be after in their rotation, and Ginn has them all. How his stuff would translate to the big leagues is another question, but it's one that may have an answer before long. With the A's looking to contend in 2025, they'll need to make the tough decisions a little more quickly than in years past.