Athletics 2024 Season in Review: T.J. McFarland

One of the A’s best bullpen arms of 2024 who just recently resigned to come back in 2025

When the A’s acquired T.J. McFarland just days before Opening Day after appearing a handful of times in 2023 many didn’t know what to expect and rightfully so. Instead, McFarland exceeded hopes and was one of the best storylines for the A’s staff and team overall in a resurgent 35-year-old 2024 campaign.

How was he acquired?

McFarland was acquired on March 26, 2024, from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for cash. This would mark McFarland’s second tenure with the organization after appearing 23 times in 2020.

What were the expectations?

A 12-year big league veteran heading into the season, McFarland would be expected to add some maturity to a young and inexperienced A’s bullpen in 2024 especially with spring training injuries to Trevor Gott and Scott Alexander.

McFarland would be acquired to fill the role of lefty specialist that would’ve likely been Alexander’s out of the gate, and as a career ground ball pitcher (61.7% for his career and 67.9% in 2018), McFarland was expected to bring that strength to Oakland. In 2023, McFarland appeared in just three games for the New York Mets leading to much uncertainty but McFarland would stick the landing overall.

2024 Results

Take away Mason Miller and all the warranted hype and McFarland could’ve been the next best story for the A’s pen this season. McFarland pitched in nearly half the games with 79 appearances and he posted his best ERA and BAA since 2021 at 3.81 and .252 respectively.

McFarland’s never been known to miss bats at a high volume and this season was no different with just a 16.7 K% but he doesn’t walk batters and he induces ground balls at an exceptional rate. His 7.2 BB% was below league average and his 57.1 GB % mark is amongst some of the leagues best (MLB average is 43.4%). Finally, McFarland also stayed true to his lefty-specialist label posting a .234/.267/.324 batting line against opponents although righties certainly had a better time.

2025 Outlook

The A’s resigned McFarland on November 7th to a 1-year, $1.8 million deal. He’ll be another familiar face and fan favorite as the team moves to Sacramento but he’ll also still be expected to fill the same role of dependable lefty-specialist in a bullpen crowded with right handers. He’s entering his 13th MLB year (122 days away from ten years of MLB service) and age 36-year-old season but until he shows signs of slowing down, expect to see McFarland on the mound a lot again in 2025.