Making a change in the bullpen
The Oakland A’s made a switch in their bullpen on Tuesday, calling up reliever Domingo Acevedo from Triple-A Las Vegas.
To make room on both the 40-man roster and the active 28-man roster, fellow reliever Burch Smith was designated for assignment.
The right-handed Smith spent all year in Oakland’s bullpen, except for a stint on the injured list in April. He was often used in a long role, going at least two innings in 10 of his 31 games. However, after putting himself on the radar with some breakout success for the A’s last summer, he never quite found a groove this season.
- Smith, 2021: 5.40 ERA, 43⅓ ip, 28 Ks, 11 BB, 5 HR, 4.20 FIP, .330 xwOBA
Instead, Acevedo will get another try. The righty made his MLB debut in June but only pitched three games before heading back to the minors. Now he’s back, after continuing to dominate the hitter-friendly Triple-A West League over the past couple months in Oakland’s farm system.
- Acevedo, 2021 AAA: 2.48 ERA, 32⅔ ip, 53 Ks, 6 BB, 3 HR, 2.56 FIP
- Acevedo, 2021 MLB: 3 ip, 3 runs, 3 Ks, 0 BB, 2 HR, 5 hits, .340 xwOBA
The 27-year-old has struck out more than 40% of the batters he’s faced in Triple-A, while avoiding walks and keeping the ball in the park in a high-power league environment. He kept throwing strikes in the majors, but he did allow two homers in the span of 13 batters.
Analysis: I’m surprised it’s taken this long to give Acevedo another chance, especially since the MLB bullpen has been a weakness for a while. At some point you can’t ignore those amazing numbers in the minors, and he didn’t get that long of a look in his first trip to the bigs.
Part of the reason for the Smith/Acevedo move: A’s had a few too many multi-inning relievers and needed a one-inning guy. Acevedo hasn’t allowed a run in 11 of his last 12 appearances with the Aviators.
— Shayna Rubin (@ShaynaRubin) September 14, 2021
Here’s the updated roster, with the injury report below.
| Pitchers | Hitters |
|
Starters
Sean Manaea (L) IL: Chris Bassitt (R) Relievers Andrew Chafin (L) 60-IL: Trevor Rosenthal (R) |
Catchers
Sean Murphy (R) Infielders 1B: Matt Olson (L) IL: Mitch Moreland (L) Outfielders Mark Canha (R) IL: Stephen Piscotty (R) |
Injury report:
- RHP Trevor Rosenthal, OUT FOR YEAR, entire body (thoracic outlet, hip labrum)
- OF Stephen Piscotty, OUT FOR YEAR, wrist (had surgery 8/27)
- RHP Mike Fiers, 60-day IL, elbow (no structural damage; minor league rehab 9/14)
- RHP Chris Bassitt, 10-day IL, face (had surgery 8/24, resumed throwing)
- DH Mitch Moreland, 10-day IL, wrist (maybe out for year?)
- 3B Matt Chapman, day-to-day, foot/shin (out of lineup 9/14)