A's Starting Former Royals Prospect Against Kansas City

The A's and Kansas City Royals are set to wrap up their 2025 seasons this weekend in West Sacramento, and according to Martín Gallegos of MLB.com, there will be a familiar face on the mound for the Athletics.

At last year's Trade Deadline, the A's traded relief pitcher Lucas Erceg to the Royals in exchange for a package of prospects. In that group was relief pitcher Will Klein (now with the Dodgers), outfielder Jared Dickey, and tonight's starter for the green and gold, righty Mason Barnett.

After the trade, Barnett seemed to have found another gear while pitching in Double-A Midland with the A's affiliate. After posting a 4.91 ERA (3.68 FIP) with a 27.4% strikeout rate and a 9% walk rate with the Royals' affiliate, he posted a 2.61 ERA (3.24 FIP) with a 31.1% strikeout rate and a 7.8% walk rate. There was a lot of excitement about this turnaround heading into 2025.

He was promoted to Triple-A Las Vegas to begin the year, and the results weren't great. Across 25 games (23 starts) and 119 innings of work, he held a 6.13 ERA (5.53 FIP) while his strikeout rate dropped to 22.8% and his walk rate climbed to 11.9%.

The Athletics still decided to give him a shot in the rotation as injuries continued to pile up in the big-league rotation late in the season, and in four starts he's lasted a total of 16 2/3 innings and holds a 7.56 ERA (4.70 FIP). One problem has been that when he allows baserunners, they have a tendancy to come around and score.

His LOB (left on base) rate this season is just 59.6%, albeit in a small sample size. The worst qualified starter by this metric, Washington's Mitchell Parker, has a LOB% of 60.8%. The league's average is 72.3%.

This is presumably one of those stats that tends to even out, like when a team has a terrible (or excellent) record in one-run games one year. That said, his LOB% was 66.8% in the minors this season, and 68.2% between both stops a year ago.

The 24-year-old last pitched on September 17 in Boston, going four innings, giving up five hits, three runs (two earned), a trio of walks, and struck out two. He should be well rested for his final outing of the season.

As for Erceg, he is out for the season after landing on the IL last week with right shoulder fatigue. The veteran righty has been solid for Kansas City this season, going 8-4 with a 2.64 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP in 61 1/3 innings of work. He also held the lead in 22 games and earned two saves.

The A's and Royals will play a pair of night games on Friday and Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 7:05 p.m. (PT) for each. They will finish up the season on Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 12:05 p.m. (PT) along with every other team in baseball. The Athletics have not announced their starter for the finale, but will toss out Luis Morales on Saturday night.