Oakland Athletics’ Sean Nolin Has Earned Shot At Next Season’s Rotation
The Josh Donaldson trade looks a bit rough at the moment, given the fact the Oakland Athletics’€™ former third baseman is a fairly certain lock for the 2015 Most Valuable Player award. But there’s plenty of time for the prospects the A’s received in return to develop into quality players.
Left-hander Sean Nolin was one of those players who came over in the deal. Nolin has not performed especially well since his call up, but he did post some quality numbers with Triple-A Nashville. Before joining the big league team, he had a 2.66 ERA and a 2-2 record for the Sounds. He made 12 starts in 14 games, and he allowed just 14 earned runs in 47.1 innings.
If those numbers seem far better than what he’s done with the A’s in September, it’s because they are. Nolin missed time with an injury shortly before he made his way to Oakland, and it seems as though he’€™s still not quite back to full strength. Certainly, his minor league numbers would say he’s capable of being a much better pitcher. He’s consistently posted an ERA below 3.50 at every level of the minor leagues where he’™s had significant playing time. He hasn’™t had enough big league time to produce a workable sample size, so it’€™s best not to judge his brief stints with the Blue Jays.
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Nolin has been largely overlooked, due in part to his time on the disabled list, but also due to the prominence of Kendall Graveman. With so much focus on Graveman’s role as a starter, there has been little attention given to the other pieces of the Donaldson trade. That’s a shame, because Nolin has a chance to be a special part of the organization. He’€™s no Sonny Gray, but he did post a 18.9 percent strikeout rate with Nashville, and opposing hitters batted just .225 against him.
If there is a troubling side to Nolin, it would be his FIP. This season with Triple-A, it was 4.82 -€“ a side effect of a 9.5 percent walk rate. He also gave up five home runs, which evens out just under one home run per nine innings. Since FIP weights strikeouts, walks and home runs differently in order to show how good a pitcher would be without being helped out (or hurt) by their defense, it makes sense that Nolin’s FIP would typically be much higher than his ERA. He will need to cut back on walks if he wants to be an effective major league starter.
The Oakland Athletics’™ rotation is largely up in the air next season, with the exception of Gray’™s spot. Jarrod Parker, A.J. Griffin, Jesse Hahn, and Graveman are all returning from injuries (some more serious than others), and players like Chris Bassitt, Jesse Chavez and Aaron Brooks will be in the mix as well. Nolin’s performance in Spring Training and the health of the A’s other pitchers will be the determining factor in figuring out whether he returns to the big leagues on Opening Day in 2016. However, Nolin’s 2015 Triple-A performance has earned him the chance to be considered for a more permanent major league position next spring.