Sep 1, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Athletics pitcher Justin Sterner (60) pitches against the St. Louis Cardinals during the seventh inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

Justin Sterner Having a Sneakily Excellent Season with A's

Originally posted on Oakland Athletics on SI
By Ian Napetian | Last updated Sep 2, 2025 9:00 AM ET

A's reliever Justin Sterner pieced together yet another strong relief appearance to silence the St. Louis Cardinals on Labor Day.

Following a dominant afternoon from starter Luis Morales, Sterner entered the ballgame to face Thomas Saggese with two outs in the sixth and the Athletics up 5-2. In a high-leverage situation with runners at second and third, Sterner elicited weak contact and got a pop out to end the threat. He has now stranded 19 of 26 inherited runners on the season.

Sterner returned to the mound in the seventh and tossed a scoreless frame. He worked around a hit by pitch and a two out single by Lars Nootbar, getting Iván Herrera to pop out to short to end the inning. The right-hander has been called upon more and more by Mark Kotsay, and continues to be brought into significant spots to settle down opposing hitters.

In his second season in the majors, Sterner has quickly become one of the first arms out of the bullpen. Through 50 appearances he holds a 3-3 record and a 3.64 earned run average. Sterner has fanned 55 batters and walked just 18 in 54 ⅓ innings pitched.

Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

While he's having plenty of success this season, 2025 has still been a year of ups and downs. He began 2024 by not allowing an earned run in Spring Training, then began the regular season with a scoreless streak that last 18 2/3 innings and was broken up by the New York Yankees on May 10. From that date through June 4 he held a 13.50 ERA across 8 2/3 innings.

That led to the A's optioning him to Triple-A Las Vegas, but he would return at the end of the month and has held a 3.00 ERA across 27 innings of work since being recalled.

In the month of August, Sterner posted a 1.98 ERA over 11 appearances, eight of which were scoreless outings. He racked up 17 strikeouts over 13 ⅔ innings with just one walk, allowing just seven hits. That all led to a 0.59 WHIP. Two of the runs he allowed came on solo home runs.

Prior to 2025, Sterner had made only two big league appearances which came with the Tampa Bay Rays last season. Sterner, who made the Athletics Opening Day roster, hasn't been handed anything this season and has instead had to work his way onto the team's 26-man roster, and then back onto it this summer.

This article first appeared on Oakland Athletics on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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