Elephant Rumblings: The A’s unsung heroes

MLB news roundup

Rise and shine, A’s Nation.

As the A’s have exceeded many peoples expectations in just under a month of play en route to a 8-11 record, it’s important to reflect on what’s gotten them to this point. Their bullpen has been absolutely lights out.

Let me throw some numbers out there.

The A’s bullpen is third best in baseball in terms of ERA at 2.58. They’re tied for fourth best in Earned Runs with the New York Yankees at just 21 through 19 games. Their WHIP is 10th in baseball at 1.16. In terms of strikeouts, the A’s bullpen has the 7th most with 75. Perhaps my favorite one, the A’s pen is also tied at second in home runs allowed. By all metrics this has been a lockdown unit, and one of the best in baseball.

On the individual level, it all checks out too.

First of all, who could’ve anticipated Austin Adams pitching to a 0 ERA through his first 10 appearances as an Athletic when he was acquired just under a month ago? The journeyman has 10 strikeouts through 6.2 innings and is proven to already be one of Mark Kotsays first weapons out of the bullpen.

Lucas Erceg looks to be building off last season while improving in some important categories like BB %. A 5.14 ERA for T.J. McFarland might jump off the page, but the veteran lefty has been another useful weapon for Kotsay and has allowed two hits and one run over his last seven appearances. Michael Kelly has been another great addition to the bullpen allowing just three runs over 10.2 innings pitched while striking out 11. He’s also tied for the team lead in wins.

On the long relief side, Kyle Muller and Mitch Spence look more than serviceable. Spence has three outings of 3+ innings on the season while allowing just two runs across those three with nine strikeouts.

Muller has looked like a different pitcher since last season and is a legit security blanket option in the bullpen who can eat up innings. An outing that resembles this is April 1 when the A’s were down eight runs through the first four innings against the Boston Red Sox, and Muller was able to slow down their momentum while also saving a few arms going 5.1 striking out six and allowing just one run.

Then of course, no bullpen is complete without its closer, and the A’s flaunt a pretty good one. Mason Miller is easily one of the most explosive arms in terms of velocity in the entire league, and he backs it up with a devastating slider. He was deemed as the “Most Electric Pitcher in Baseball” by Sports Illustrated a few days ago also.

This is a long-winded way of fanboying over the A’s bullpen and telling everyone just how good they’ve been - my apologies. Adding injured arms like Luis Medina, Ken Waldichuk, Scott Alexander, and eventually Sean Newcomb into the mix can only help at some point too.

It’s still important to preface that this is a bullpen composed of midseason acquisitions, waiver wire deals, Rule 5 draftees and more. How sustainable this success is is a great question, but everything we’ve seen so far has shattered all expectations and anything closely reminiscent of it going forward should do the job and then some.

The A’s are off today, but will pick things back up tomorrow on the road against the Cleveland Guardians at 4:10 PM PDT. Joe Boyle gets the starting nod, so there’s always a good chance the A’s bullpen might need to come up big in some way. I, for one, like their chances.

Enjoy the rest of your days, AN. Happy almost Friday!

A’s Coverage:

• A’s get back in the win column with 6-3 victory
• When Fans Fight Back
• How A’s Mason Miller went from aspiring accountant to big-league relief ace
• A’s Chris Caray becomes MLB’s four generation baseball announcer

MLB News and Interest:

• Why Jack Leiter’s first MLB pitch will be historic
• Total domination: Houck tosses MLB’s fastest game in nearly 14 years
• Gary Cooper missed out on an MLB pension by one day. Now, 44 years later, a petition is championing for that to be rectified
• Buxton, O’s, Twins give fan ‘best day ever’ after signed ball was snatched
• 10 MLB Prospects Outside The Top 100 Who Have Our Attention
• MLB Power Rankings Week 3: Braves, Dodgers battle for top spot