Checking in on the A's Pitchers in the Arizona Fall League
The Arizona Fall League offers prospects from all levels a chance to work on a new swing, refine a pitch, or get back some of the time they missed from the regular season. It's a squad of talented minor leaguers from five different MLB affiliations all working together, usually for the first time, towards a common goal. If you have never been to Arizona for the Fall League, it's much less crowded than at spring training, and the weather is pretty comparable. It's definitely worth checking out if you want to see some good baseball.
This season the A's sent four pitchers, all right-handers, to Arizona, and for the most part, the results on the field have been pretty solid.
| Player | ERA | IP | K | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
J.T. Ginn #9 | 3.38 | 8.0 | 8 | 1.25 |
Ryan Cusick #13 | 3.00 | 12.0 | 9 | 1.42 |
Colin Peluse #24 | 3.00 | 9.0 | 9 | 1.00 |
Mason Miller #20 | 5.87 | 7.2 | 5 | 1.17 |
These stats include Friday's 4-0 loss that J.T. Ginn started and worked three innings, gave up four hits, two earned runs, walked one and struck out four.
Ginn came over from the New York Mets along with Adam Oller in the Chris Bassitt trade before the season began and is a former second round pick by the Mets from the 2020 Draft. He only tallied 35 1/3 innings with Double-A Midland this season due to forearm tightness, but in the small sample size we did see his K/9 jump up from 7.9 a year ago to 10.4 this season.
Ginn had pretty big lefty/righty splits this season, with left-handers batting .339 with a 1.90 WHIP, while righties hit just .207 with a 1.22. We're working with a small sample size on those numbers, but lefties did hit him a little better last year too, albeit it at a .222 clip.
Ryan Cusick came over in the Matt Olson deal with the Braves, and is another former high draft pick, going to Atlanta 24th overall in 2021. Cusick tallied 41 innings in 12 games (9 starts) during the regular season to the tune of a 7.02 ERA. Last season he spent the year in A Ball after getting drafted, so the Double-A assignment was an aggressive one by the A's.
In addition to getting some innings to make up for lost time due to an oblique injury, you have to believe that he's also there to work on his command after posting a 6.6 BB/9 during the regular season. Over at The Athletic, Keith Law mentioned that in the start he saw from Cusick, he was going changeup heavy, so it's pretty safe to guess that he's also working on developing that offering for next season as well.
Colin Peluse was not acquired via trade. Nope, he was drafted by the A's in the 9th round of the 2019 Draft and was in Midland for most of the year, before getting one start in Triple-A Vegas in late September that didn't go well.
In Double-A, Peluse posted a 5.92 ERA in 23 games (21 starts) across 118 1/3 innings. His 2.1 walks per nine was solid, but he was also giving up 10.1 hits per nine, leading to a 1.357 WHIP. His strikeout rate was also down this season, from 9.6 per nine in Lansing a year ago to 7 per nine this year. Missing more bats is going to be key for him, especially with that high-90's heater.
Finally, there's Mason Miller, the triple-digit flamethrower with loads of talent and upside--if he can stay healthy. Miller is another A's draftee, going in the third round of the 2021 Draft, but he missed months this season due to a scapula strain.
He notched six innings in rookie ball last season and just 14 innings between Rookie Ball, Lansing, and Vegas this season, and his numbers are impressive:
Rookie Ball: 2 IP, 0 hits, 0 runs, 5 strikeouts.
Lansing: 7 IP, 3 hits, 3 ER, HR, 2 BB, 13 strikeouts. The home run he allowed was to the first batter he faced in Lansing.
Las Vegas: 5 IP, 5 hits, 3 ER, 2 HR, BB, 7 strikeouts.
Twenty-five strikeouts in 14 innings is...a lot of strikeouts. Did I mention he's also a starter? Even if he's healthy it'll take him some time to develop to become big league ready, but he's a guy to keep an eye on, even if you're just casually into prospects.
The A's will have plenty of roster turnover again in 2023, which will open up some opportunities around the diamond for a variety of players. This extra time in Arizona could end up getting one of these guys to Oakland next season.
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