Struggling Athletics pitcher's season gets worse as he lands on IL

The A’s announced that right-hander Ross Stripling has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a strained right elbow.  Right-hander Brandon Bielak has also been designated for assignment, opening up a 40-man roster spot for Jack O’Loughlin, whose promotion was reported earlier Saturday.  In addition to selecting O’Loughlin’s contract from Triple-A, the Athletics also called up righty Tyler Ferguson from Triple-A to take the other 26-man roster spot.

Stripling allowed six runs over 3 2/3 innings in Friday’s 6-3 loss to the Astros.  Even if it is fair to assume that the elbow strain impacted Stripling’s performance in some fashion, it was another in a string of tough outings for the veteran, as he has a 5.82 ERA across 55 2/3 innings and 11 starts for Oakland.  His SIERA is a somewhat more palatable 4.66 and Stripling hasn’t enjoyed any batted-ball (.359 BABIP) or strand rate (56.4%) luck, plus his .328 xwOBA is well below his .364 wOBA.  The righty’s 4.8% walk rate has been excellent, and he has done a very good job of limiting hard contact, but his 13.9% strikeout rate ranks in only the seventh percentile among all pitchers.

Even if the results have been spotting, Stripling has been able to take the ball every fifth day, which is the kind of stability the A’s were hoping to receive when they acquired him in an offseason trade with the Giants.  It was widely expected that the Athletics would also be shopping Stripling in advance of the trade deadline, yet this injury now casts doubt on that scenario, and potentially Stripling’s availability for the remainder of the season.  More will be known about the severity of the elbow sprain soon, but it is worth noting that Stripling underwent a Tommy John surgery back in 2014 when he was pitching in the Dodgers’ farm system.

The more immediate impact of Stripling’s injury is that Oakland is now down yet another starting pitcher.  Paul Blackburn (stress reaction in his right foot), Alex Wood (rotator cuff tendonitis), and Joe Boyle (lower back strain) are already all on the 15-day IL, meaning that of the five A’s pitchers who have made the most starts in 2024, JP Sears is the only fit hurler of the group.  O’Loughlin has been a regular starter at Triple-A Las Vegas and will join Sears, Mitch Spence, Joey Estes and Aaron Brooks in the makeshift rotation.  The Athletics have off-days on each of the next two Mondays to allow for some flexibility in figuring out the pitching staff, and in perhaps buying time until at least one of their injured starters is healthy.

Given the short-handed rotation, it seems surprising that the A’s are parting ways with Bielak just nine days after acquiring the righty in a trade with the Astros.  Bielak has a 3.18 ERA over 5 2/3 relief innings since coming to the Athletics, and while he has worked exclusively as a reliever over 13 total appearances for Oakland and Houston this season, he started 13 of his 15 games with the Astros in 2023.

Bielak’s Statcast numbers have been troubling in each of the last two seasons, so he might be fortunate to have even the 4.11 ERA he has posted over 103 innings since Opening Day 2023.  Still, for a team that is so thin on starting pitching at the moment, designating a swingman with MLB experience puts even more pressure on the Athletics’ internal arms to pick up the slack.  The A’s weren’t able to simply move Bielak to Triple-A since he is out of minor league options, and it is possible another team might again look to work out a trade or just claim Bielak in his latest trip to DFA limbo.