The Importance of J.T. Ginn's Outing Against the Baltimore Orioles

After trading away JP Sears and Mason Miller at the Trade Deadline, there is a spot open in the Athletics rotation not just for the duration of the 2025 campaign, but heading into 2026. Jacob Lopez has been showing that he's deserving of a spot in the five-man mix next year, joining Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs as the sure options.

Over the final weeks of this season, J.T. Ginn and Jack Perkins will be trying to add their name to that list. Perkins made his first start on Sunday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and will be getting his second turn through the rotation on Saturday in Baltimore.

While Ginn received the loss on Friday night against the Baltimore Orioles, he also collected a career-high nine strikeouts in five innings of work, giving up three hits and three earned runs, while walking a pair. The Orioles scored three times on a pair of homers, with both long balls coming in the first inning off sliders.

The slider is typically a reliable pitch for the A's right-hander, who has thrown it 28.3% of the time this season, ranking below just his sinker (55.6%) while also being his big whiff pitch, with a 33.3% swinging strike rate.

Neither slider he threw in the first was located terribly well, with the one that Adley Rutschman hit being in the middle of the plate and at the top of the zone, and the one to Ryan Mountcastle being belt high and away.

With his feel for the slider not where it usually is, Ginn had to switch up his strategy heading into the second inning, and he did. That pitch finished as his least used offering of the evening, sitting at just 17%. While it still generated whiffs, it had also resulted in an early 3-0 deficit. Ginn's plan of attack was to use his changeup (24%) and cutter (21%) a bit more in this one.

From the second through his final inning in the fifth, Ginn gave up an infield single to Gunnar Henderson and walked Rutschman in the third, which would be the only traffic he'd have the rest of the game.

While this may not seem like a big deal, for a developing starter to rely on his secondary pitches and have success, along with being able to still go five innings after a 28-pitch first has to be a confidence booster that he'll be looking to build from the rest of the season.

Ginn has relied less on his changeup this season, throwing it just 6.3% of the time overall, but it has a huge whiff rate of 57.1%, and on Friday night while mixing it in a bit more, Baltimore swung at 11 of them and came up empty seven times, good for a whiff rate of 64%. It also has a batting average against of just .125 with an xBA of .123, so the data suggests it's a pitch that could stand to be thrown a bit more.

Perhaps we'll see a few more changeups in his next start against the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night in Sacramento.