Oakland Athletics Need To Bring Up Reliever Dan Otero

In 2014, Oakland Athletics’ reliever Dan Otero was one of the most underappreciated pitchers in the bullpen. He pitched 86 ⅔ innings where he struck out 45 and accumulated a 2.28 ERA. Additionally, he only allowed 15 walks and 4 home runs. However, when the 2015 season rolled around, Otero struggled immensely and was demoted to Triple-A in early June of this year.

Otero was worked extremely hard  in 2014 and pitched about one-fifth of all relief innings for the Athletics. But, he was able to keep his ERA low and became a great seventh inning setup man for the A’s. Many were expecting him to come back in 2015 and perform equally as well. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

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Otero’s season this year started out quite shaky. He became very inconsistent like the rest of the bullpen. On April 20, Otero pitched four innings allowing only one hit, which was great for Oakland. But then, just four days later, Otero allowed two runs in one inning during a relief outing. The final straw was when Otero allowed three runs in two innings pitched on May 27 and then four runs in a ⅓ of an inning in his next outing on June 4. Oakland sent him to Triple-A so that he could try and figure out what was going wrong.

After arriving in Triple-A Nashville, Otero has worked tirelessly on his command issues – particularly with his sinker – that he experienced during the first two months of the 2015 season. His practice has seems to have paid off because he is performing much better down in Nashville. His recent outings in Triple-A definitely prove that Otero is ready to be brought back up to the MLB.

Since June 19, Otero has not allowed an earned run in the past 19 innings pitched. Additionally, he has only given up seven hits and walked just one batter in the time as well. His ERA has consistently dropped from a 2.25 when he first pitched in Nashville on June 13 to now only a 1.08 earned run average. Additionally, Otero’s WHIP is down to 1.02.

Otero is a vital part of Oakland’s bullpen when he is pitching well. Now that he has had some time in Triple-A to compose himself, Otero’s pitching is back on track. He will once again be a reliable reliever for the Athletics and it is time for them to bring him back up to the major league bullpen.

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