Oakland Athletics Should Promote These Five Players In September
Feb 28, 2015; Mesa, AZ, USA; Oakland Athletics pitcher Angel Castro (71) poses for a portrait during Photo Day at HoHoKam Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Angel Castro
The Oakland Athletics gave Angel Castro a chance at the beginning of the season, and it did not end well. Although his ERA in the majors was only 2.25, he gave up eight hits and three walks in just four innings of work. That is too much traffic for a handful of relief appearances.
But Castro seems to have it figured out.
Castro is Nashville’s hottest relief pitcher right now. He has not given up an earned run in his last seven appearances (during which he pitched eight innings). During that stretch, he has only given up three hits and has walked only one, and this includes Tuesday’s appearance where he pitched a perfect innings with three strikeouts.
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As for the A’s bullpen? This seems unnecessary, but here’s the rundown. In the American League, A’s relievers are second to last in ERA, second in blown saves, and they have given up the fifth most home runs, and have done all of this while pitching the fourth fewest innings.
The A’s should not sporadically recall relievers from their system and haphazardly use them in big league games just to see what sticks. They would not get any meaningful sample sizes that way. They should use September call-ups as an opportunity to test one or two relievers and give them a significant enough amount of innings in order to accurately judge their ability at the Major League level.
If the A’s do this, Castro should be at the top of the list to try his hand at the highest level once again. The point of sending somebody with Major League potential to Triple-A is to work out the bugs in their game. Castro has demonstrated that he has done this in Nashville, and he has maintained an excellent body of work for a long enough stretch of games to merit a September call-up.