Going into this season, my greatest hope was that the Athletics would develop their own starting pitching assets. Because they're tried two different tactics that completely avoid those, and they didn't work. They first tried calling up other people's pitching prospects, and tried getting by with J.P. Sears, James Kaprielian, Ken Waldichuk, Frankie Montas and that ilk. This was not successful. So last year they started over and tried the other tactic, signing decent talent to pitch the big games and farming people under that. This hasn't worked either. Jeffrey Springs has been getting lit up all June for some reason [smirk], Severino strikes people out but can't keep runs down, Civale's a short term solution and the underneath guys from last season haven't made much of an impact. And again, I get why the A's have been so ashamed to bring up their own guys, because a lot of these guys haven't been turning out great in the majors. Joe Boyle was a misfire that's now struggling to stay healthy in Tampa. Joey Estes is very inconsistent. Brady Basso's been really ineffective. Even Luis Morales has struggled this year.
However...hope has arisen. There are two guys in this rotation who are homegrown [or at least were developed by the A's in some way], and they're the most integral starters right now. Finally.
J.T. Ginn has been on the brink of legitimacy for a few years now, and I think he's finally breaking through. He was fine in a 2024 callup, struggled a bit last year despite some nice late starts, and now he's got a 2.91 ERA with a 1.164 WHIP, 68 Ks and a 2.7 WAR. He went from a rotation also-ran to the one sure bet for a while, and even at 27 he's showing some serious presence in this rotation. Also promising is recent draft pick Gage Jump, who's got a 2.37 ERA, 26 Ks and a 0.989 WHIP in his first five starts. Dude's 23 years old and clicking into place more than Springs, the veteran. This team also has Kade Morris back in the minors, and though he got killed his first start up he's still got a high ceiling. At some point, Henry Baez will be ready, and that will make things very interesting.
It proves how much further the A's have come even in a year, and how close they are to really being a match in the AL.
Despite a rough week or so, the A's are at .500 and still in 2nd place, and have the offense to stay afloat for a while thanks to Nick Kurtz, Shea Langeliers, Tyler Soderstrom and Zach Gelof. In addition, some new elements have been added, and are aiding this team tremendously. Henry Bolte is playing CF everyday and hitting .317 with 34 hits in 33 games, becoming the kind of fixture I figured Colby Thomas would be this year. Jonah Heim has been a really strong backup catcher in his return to the A's, with 5 homers and 8 RBIs in 21 games [and I know what you're thinking- Heim and a guy named Bolt? What is this, 2019??]. Jacob Wilson is healthy and back to his old contact tricks. And Alika Williams is doing more as a utility infielder here than he did in Pittsburgh for some reason. It's really cool how all of this is coming together.
Unfortunately, because of the pitching, it's not .500+ baseball right now, but it definitely could be, especially if Nick Kurtz keeps at it. I dunno if people are making Ryan Howard comparisons yet, but they absolutely should be.
Coming Tomorrow- A guy that's pitched five terrific seasons. Unfortunately only two of them have been consecutive.
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