Justin Sterner's Hot Spring Earns Himself a Bullpen Spot

This off-season, like most teams, the Athletics made a handful of waiver claims to fill out some spots on the 40-man roster. Over the last few seasons, the club has made some very impactful off-season waiver claims, such as All-Star and Silver Slugger Brent Rooker.

Again this off-season, the club may have struck gold again by claiming right-hander Justin Sterner from the Rays.

Sterner spent last season in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, receiving his first big-league promotion and playing well. In four big league innings, he allowed only one run, which is good for a 2.25 ERA.

The right-hander had a pretty good season with the Rays' Triple-A affiliate as well. He posted an ERA of 3.28 in 46.2 innings. Clearly the A's organization saw something in the 28-year-old and elected to claim him off waivers.

Sterner would head into A's camp on the club's 40-man roster since he was a waiver claim. The odds were stacked against him as the club already had lots of bullpen depth, and added some more in the off-season with the addition of José Leclerc.

However, Sterner controlled the controllable and didn't allow a single run in spring training.

In the 12 innings he pitched for the A's in camp, he struck out 17 batters, allowing just five hits and two walks. It's one of the best spring stat lines you can have in a 12-inning span. His amazing performance this spring has earned him a spot in the A's bullpen, which is one of the more underrated bullpens in the sport.

Not only does the club have Mason Miller closing games and former World Series champion Leclerc setting him up, but Tyler Ferguson burst onto the scene last season and will serve as another solid set-up man. Michel Otañez figures to join that late-inning mix as well, though he'll begin the year on the IL.

It may have actually been the injury to Otañez that has allowed Sterner to make the club in the first place, though his performance would have certainly made for a tough decision regardless.

It would be great to see if the 28-year-old is able to continue his streak of not allowing any earned runs, and to see if he can continue striking out big league hitters at the rate he did in camp.

If he can have anywhere close to the performance he did this spring, he could go down as yet another great waiver claim for David Forst and the A's front office.