Oakland Athletics’ Aaron Brooks May Be Sleeper Starter
Can Aaron Brooks Help the Oakland Athletics?
Last Tuesday, the Oakland Athletics traded their third and final major piece when they sent Ben Zobrist to the Kansas City Royals for pitchers Aaron Brooks and Sean Manaea. Manaea was praised as the key acquisition in that deal. He was a first round pick in 2013, and he has earned an excellent 3.09 ERA through 33 starts in the minors (including a seven-inning three-hit shutout recently with Double-A Midland). He has been living up to the expectations that previously made him the second best prospect in the Royals’ system according to MLB.com.
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Brooks was considered a more Major-League-ready, but lesser overall part of the deal. This was an easy assumption to make because the Royals only used him sparingly in a relief capacity, and he did not perform particularly well when called upon. His minor league numbers were not particularly impressive, either. But Billy Beane wanted Brooks to be part of the deal that included his coveted super-utility player, so was there a less obvious part of Brooks’ game that impressed the A’s front office?
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The answer might be in his ability to control his pitches. Brooks’ value is not obvious when looking at his minor league career 4.21 ERA, but he does post incredibly impressive numbers that involve throwing strikes. Through five seasons in the minors, he owns a career 4.82 SO/W ratio, 7.8 K/9, and most importantly, a miniscule 1.40 BB/9. That is 1.4 walks per every nine innings pitched. Aaron Brooks just does not walk people. To emphasize how impressive this number is, Jesse Hahn and Sonny Gray are the current leaders in that category among Oakland Athletics’ starters, and their BB/9 ratios are 2.33 and 2.36 respectively.
Saturday’s start against the Cleveland Indians might be an indication of how well he can pitch when he is paired with a good play-caller like Stephen Vogt. Through 7.1 innings, Brooks did not walk a single batter, and he was even able to induce five strikeouts. Of his 94 pitches, 66 were thrown for strikes, which is equal to 70 percent of his pitches either hitting the strike zone or being chased.
Now take a look at the pitch charts below, which show the placement of Brooks’ pitches in Saturday’s game.
Pitch Chart of Aaron Brook’s start against the Cleveland Indians on 8/1/15. Mandatory Credit:
The placement of his pitches are phenomenal. With the exception of two fastballs, notice that all of the pitches that fell low are offspeed pitches that were thrown as chase pitches. Now take a look at the pitches that are inside of the strike zone. Only a couple of pitches were thrown right down the middle. The rest fall within either a horizontal or vertical third of the strike zone. This shows that he can usually place a pitch exactly where he wants it to go.
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Brooks may not be the savior that the A’s rotation needs during the absence of Hahn and the decline of Jesse Chavez, but it is possible that he has always just been a good play-caller away from having good Major League stuff, which is a luxury he did not have in the minor leagues.
Brooks does not become a free agent until 2021. If Saturday’s start was not a fluke, Beane may have just acquired a solid back-end starter that can help the Oakland Athletics’ for the rest of the decade.