Athletics, Zack Godley Agree To Minor League Deal

The A’s have agreed to a minor league contract with right-hander Zack Godley, MLBTR has learned. He’d been pitching with the Gastonia Honey Hunters of the independent Atlantic League. He’s headed to Triple-A Las Vegas for the time being and will make his first start for the Aviators on Friday.

Godley, 33, hasn’t appeared in the big leagues since a brief look with the 2021 Brewers. The right-hander was a solid member of the Diamondbacks’ rotation back in 2017-18 when he tossed 333 innings of 4.10 ERA ball with an above-average 24.7% strikeout rate against a higher-than average 9.4% walk rate.

Though Godley looked to have locked down a spot at the back of the Arizona rotation with that performance, he struggled in three subsequent seasons, in part due to injury. He spent time on the injured list with a flexor strain in 2020 and finger injuries in 2021. Overall, in the three seasons following that nice run in ’17-’18, Godley limped to a 6.75 ERA in 124 innings at the big league level.

Since 2022, Godley has been pitching in the Atlantic League, where he’s amassed 125 2/3 innings of 4.73 ERA ball. It’s not an eye-catching number, but he’s posted nice strikeout and walks rates, fanning 28% of his opponents against a 7.8% walk rate.

For the A’s, adding any and all veteran rotation depth they can find makes sense. Oakland starters have MLB’s second-worst ERA this year, with their 6.37 mark narrowly leading the 30th-ranked Rockies (6.44). Left-hander JP Sears, who has a 3.99 ERA in 106 innings on the year, is the only A’s starter with an ERA under 5.00. Oakland also has James Kaprielian, Mason Miller and Drew Rucinski on the injured list — the latter two on the 60-day IL. Down in Triple-A, 40-man options include Kyle Muller and Adrian Martinez, but both have struggled in a hitter-friendly Vegas setting.

Godley will add some experienced depth to Oakland’s group and give them an option for a spot start or simply to eat some innings at the back of the big league staff if they’re concerned about potential workload management for younger arms in the season’s second half.