A’s left-hander JP Sears was dazzling enough Sunday against the Texas Rangers that it appears the former Yankees prospect may be in line to be Oakland’s starting pitcher on Opening Night.
Sears was dominant during his three-inning start, striking out seven batters and allowing just one hit while touching 95 mph on the Hohokam Stadium gun in the A’s 5-2 spring training victory. In two spring starts, he’s permitted just one hit while striking out nine with no walks in five innings.
Sears was Oakland’s most consistent starter in a disastrous 2023 season while he went 5-14 with a 4.54 ERA in a team-high 32 starts. While the season opener is still more than three weeks away, mapping out the A’s rotation and doing the math shows Sears is on track for four more starts, with his fifth start set for March 28 — when the A’s start the season against Cleveland. Veteran Paul Blackburn seems to be his only competition for the opener.
Ross Stripling, acquired from the Giants last month, made his A’s debut and worked three scoreless innings in relief of Sears. The 34-year-old right-hander allowed two hits and struck out one while giving up an unearned run.
At the risk of jumping to conclusions over nine spring training games, the A’s pitching hasn’t looked anything like it did during a 112-loss season last year. Oakland pitchers led the majors in walks by a large margin – its alarming 694 walks were 40 more than the next-worst White Sox. This spring, the A’s 31 walks — including just one Sunday — are the second-fewest behind the Angels in the American League.
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There was good news in the batter’s box for the A’s on Sunday, too. Second baseman Zack Gelof continued to rake – he doubled twice to raise his spring average to .389 and boosting his OPS to 1.365, second-best in the majors behind Washington rookie James Woods’ ungodly 1.699.
Seth Brown enjoyed a big day at the plate for the A’s, going 3-for-3 with three RBIs, including a pair on a titanic first-inning blast to right field off Rangers starter Dane Dunning.