Oakland Athletics: The Athletics’ All-Time 25-Man Roster

Starting Pitcher 5: Barry Zito

Barry Zito was beloved by not just Oakland Athletic fans but the entire Bay Area. Throughout his 15-season career, Zito only played for the Athletics and the San Francisco Giants. He was drafted by the A’s in 1999 and came up through their farm system making his Major League Debut on July 22, 2000.

Zito was a starting pitcher for the A’s from 2000-2006. He is best known for being part of the “Big Three”, which also included Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder. These three starting pitchers dominated Oakland’s starting rotation from 2000 to 2004.

During that time, Zito had one of the best seasons of his career. In 2002, Zito held a 2.75 ERA with a 23-5 winning record for the season. Because of his outstanding performance that year, he won the American League Cy Young Award and it was the first out of a total of three appearances as an All-Star.

His success as a starting pitcher continued and he earned the Opening Day nod in 2005. Even though Zito left the A’s after the 2006 season, he would ultimately return to make a comeback in 2015. In 2015, he signed a minor league contract with the Athletics. Everyone held their breath, waiting for Zito the take the mound at the O.co Colisuem once more. On September 26, 2015, Zito started against none other than former teammate Hudson when the A’s and Giants played each other in a three game series. Mudler also joined these two starters on the field prior to one of the games so that the Big Three could be honored during the pre-game ceremonies. After successfully making it back to the Majors this past season, Zito ultimately retired from playing Major League Baseball and began a new journey – as a country music singer.

Runner Up: Tim Hudson

As part of the Big Three, Hudson should definitely be recognized as one of the Athletics’ great starters. Like Zito, Hudson was also drafted by the Oakland Athletics – once in 1994 and again in 1997 – and spent five years with the organization from 1999 to 2004. Hudson’s best seasons with the A’s were between 2001 to 2003, but an injury sidelined him in 2004. The Oakland Athletics traded Hudson to the Atlanta Braves before the 2005 season.

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