The A’s have claimed right-hander Devin Sweet off waivers from the Mariners. Sweet was designated for assignment earlier this week.
The 26-year-old made his Major League debut this season, appearing in two games with Seattle and posting two innings (with a 9.00 ERA). An undrafted free agent in 2018, Sweet is changing teams for the first time in his pro career, as he has a 3.67 ERA over 326 1/3 career innings in the Mariners’ farm system.
Those numbers include only seven innings at the Triple-A level, as Sweet was actually promoted to the majors from Double-A Arkansas for his two MLB games before he ever pitched for Triple-A Tacoma. He got the Mariners’ attention with a 1.54 ERA, 34.6% strikeout rate and 5.9% walk rate over 35 innings of Double-A ball, a decided step up from his work in Arkansas in 2021-22. Most prominently, Sweet showed great improvement at keeping the ball in the park, as he gave just one homer over those 35 frames at Double-A this year after allowing 27 homers over 137 2/3 innings in 2021-22.
It makes for some interesting potential, and it isn’t surprising that the rebuilding Athletics would want to take a look at a young and controllable arm. Oakland has optioned Sweet to Triple-A for now, but might very well call him up for some more Major League action before the season is over.
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