Oakland’s young starters learning on the job

By Thom Henninger

The Oakland Athletics are 21-30 through 51 games, which isn’t all that surprising. Growing pains were to be expected with the A’s rotation built around four young pitchers with just 28 big league starts between them going into the season. Oakland’s rookie hurlers have already started 30 games in 2009, easily the most rookie starts among all teams, and it’ll take time before they cash in on potential.

The sole veteran of the group coming out of spring training was 25-year-old Dallas Braden, with all of 24 major league starts and six victories. The promising trio of Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson and Josh Outman was scheduled for on-the-job training on the big league roster.

There are signs that the kids are adjusting and learning. Braden has been the most consistent, recording quality starts in eight of his 11 outings. Left-hander Josh Outman has now worked five consecutive quality starts after pitching into the seventh inning of Oakland’s 5-3 win over the Chicago White Sox Wednesday night. And 21-year-old right-hander Trevor Cahill hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in six of his last seven times out.

Only southpaw Brett Anderson, the A’s other 21-year-old rookie, has continued to struggle, though he has a pair of quality outings among his last three starts. In those appearances against Tampa Bay and Seattle, Anderson collected his first two big league wins.

The A’s called on another of their top pitching prospects Tuesday night, with good results. Right-hander Vin Mazzero, 22, blanked the White Sox through 6.2 innings for a 5-0 win in his major league debut. So, the A’s are now using four rookies in their rotation.

There will be ups and downs, but the numbers suggest the kids are starting to figure it out:

Oakland Starters, April & Since, 2009

Braden’s post-April stats have been skewered by one mid-May outing in which was roughed up for six earned runs in five innings. It’s the only time he’s failed to work a quality start since the start of May. Although the southpaw may have overachieved in April, he’s shown he can keep his team in games on a consistent basis.

Lately Cahill and Outman have shown that they can do the same. Anderson and Mazzero are huge talents, too, of course. A little success from them could make for an interesting second half in the AL West.

Tagged as: Brett Anderson, Dallas Braden, Josh Outman, Oakland A's, Trevor Cahill, Vin Mazzaro