This Former Padres Prospect Could be the Next Lethal A's Bullpen Piece

Last winter, it was Elvis Alvarado who has a similar profile to Otañez that made his name in the Green and Gold. He was also in his mid-20's and had yet to make his big-league debut entering the year. He received a couple of quick looks with the A's in May and June as the club struggled and needed fresh arms in the bullpen.

He was called up for good at the beginning of July, and by the end of the season he held a 3.19 ERA across 42 1/3 innings of work (37 appearances) with a 1.32 WHIP. Alvarado was also throwing 61% strikes.

This all brings us to the piece that the A's landed in the Miller deal at the end of July in Eduarniel Nuñez. He was on the A's roster for the first game after the trade, but his time in West Sacramento didn't last long. He was optioned back to Vegas after just two outings to have him work on some things, and while he would be back after a couple of weeks for another brief stint, he'd finish the season with Las Vegas.

Nuñez held a cumulative 7.11 ERA between his time with the A's and Padres, but post-trade he worked eight big-league innings and held a 9.00 ERA with a 2.00 WHIP and a .310 batting average against. He was throwing 59% strikes, which wasn't quite consistent enough, but his bigger issue was that he wasn't getting first-pitch strikes often enough.

Pitching behind in the count, hitters could sit on the pitch he could locate that day and do damage. Hence the .310 average against.

We asked Brent Rooker about his thought process in the box when a pitcher is having trouble locating his pitches, and he said that it's all situational.

"If it's 2-0, 3-1, or a count where you really feel the guy needs a strike, and he's been only able to locate one of them, you feel like he's more likely than not going to throw the one that he has command of." He even expanded on this a bit, saying that if the heater isn't working, he'll go ahead and try to time up the slider and just take the fastball.

Nuñez is a primarily a two-pitch guy that will also sprinkle in a curveball to a lefty. His fastball is high octane, sitting at 98 miles per hour and touching triple digits. His slider also averaged 88, so he is certainly a power pitcher.

It's that slider that's his key pitch (a lot like Miller). If he's not able to locate the breaking ball, then hitters can time up a heater no matter how fast it is. When we've seen Miller struggle, it's because he's had a hard time with the slider.

Nuñez's slider is also the best on the A's pitching staff, holding a 135 Stuff+ grade over at FanGraphs. That also makes it a top-20 slider among pitchers that threw at least five innings this season.

The key for Nuñez to have success in 2026 will be getting into the zone a little more than he was, and getting that first pitch strike. We've seen the A's turn guys like this into pretty solid back-of-the-bullpen relievers each of the past two seasons, but they also haven't had a full offseason to work with either Otañez or Alvarado.

The hope is that Nuñez will be ready to go dominate this spring, which could lead to him earning a spot in the 'pen to open up the 2026 campaign. In time, he could even carve out a role for himself in the ninth inning.