On Tuesday, the Oakland Athletics claimed 27-year-old RHP Parker Bridwell off waivers. Bridwell is coming off a season in which he pitched just 6.2 innings in the Majors, surrendering 13 runs on 14 hits and two walks. In the season before, he went 10-3 with a 3.64 ERA and 1.20 WHIP over 20 starts.
While these numbers seem as if he had a very good 2017 season, his advanced stats tell a different story. Bridwell allowed 1.41 HR/9, while tallying just 5.43 K/9, a 38.1 GB%, a very high 4.84 FIP, and just an 8.7 K-BB%. I’m not a big fan of saying a pitcher got “lucky”, but these numbers seem as if that’s the case.
One thing to note for Bridwell is that pitching for the A’s may help the right-hander a lot. In 9.2 total innings against Oakland, Bridwell has given up a total of 22 runs. In his career against all other teams, he has collected a 3.33 ERA across 121.1 IP.
Bridwell was designated for assignment by the Angels in November, then was claimed by the Yankees six days later but was DFA’d again on December 17. Los Angeles claimed him back from New York, until they designated Bridwell for assignment once again last week.
After bouncing around a lot this offseason, we’ll see how long he sticks around with the Athletics. It’s unknown whether or not he’ll start the 2019 season on the Major League club, but with Oakland being in a great need for starting pitching, it’s certainly a possibility.
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