Oakland Athletics Should Promote These Five Players In September

Mar 31, 2015; Tempe, AZ, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Barry Zito (75) warms up prior to the game against the Los Angeles Angels at Tempe Diablo Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Barry Zito

The Nashville Sounds announced on Sunday that Barry Zito was going to go on the team’s 7-Day Disabled List with a minor shoulder injury. This injury is not considered serious. Susan Slusser wrote that his move to the DL was more of a roster shuffle so that the Sounds could make room for Taylor Thompson, who is coming off of the DL. Pending an emergency call-up, Zito is expected to start for the Sounds on Saturday.

Swingin’ A’s has covered why Zito should be promoted in the past, and the same holds true for the present day. Zito has been pitching with a mission in Triple-A this season. He owns a 3.48 ERA through 22 starts, and he has not shown any signs of slowing down. Through his last five starts, that ERA is down to an even 3.00. He had many critics that thought that his age would keep him from pitching well for an extended amount of time, but he is working hard to prove them wrong.

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Most importantly though, the Oakland Athletics are in desperate need of starting pitching. Although the trade of Scott Kazmir was widely anticipated, nobody expected Jesse Hahn to suddenly become unavailable due to injury. Hahn was initially expected to miss only a month, but today is day 28, and there have been no signs that he is going to resume baseball activities any time soon. Aaron Brooks has been a decent stopgap. His first two starts were surprisingly good, and his last one was a disappointing eight earned-run effort against the Blue Jays (but don’t look too much into that — who hasn’t given up eight runs to this Blue Jays lineup?).

Zito will recover from this minor setback quickly, and he should make a start in Nashville just to make sure he has fully recovered. Once this has happened, the A’s do not have a reason to keep him in Nashville after September 1st. Bring up Barry Zito to support this fragile starting rotation.

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