Former Atlanta Braves Pitcher Earning Spot with A's

Sean Newcomb has talked about the trade he was involved in more than he expected to, but says he never really felt the pressure to perform after being involved in the move that sent him from the Angels to the Atlanta Braves in the Andrelton Simmons deal back in 2015. After a couple of stops and some time in the bullpen, he is trying to make his case to be in the A's rotation plans for 2024. 

Newcomb was involved in the first player-for-player deal between the A's and Giants since 1990 at the end of August. A little over two weeks later he has impressed so much that it's looking like he could have a spot on the team next year. Where that spot will be will be is going to be a topic of debate this off-season, but through 12 innings he holds a 0.75 ERA, has allowed just three hits, walked six and struck out 15. His WHIP is the same as his ERA, which is just outstanding, even in a small sample. 

One question heading into 2024 will be how many innings he can handle. He peaked at 164 innings back in 2018, then tossed 89 total innings between the minors and big-leagues in 2019. Since then, his highest innings total has been 51 ^1/3, which he did last season. He is currently sitting at 46 ^1/3 this season, so there is a good chance he'll surpass last season's mark by the end of the year. That said, the workload is still a long ways off from a starter's workload. 

On Saturday night he got the nod against the Texas Rangers and fired four shutout frames, allowing just one hit, walking two, hitting a batter, and striking out five. After a 25-pitch first frame, Newcomb settled down, allowing just a single to Ezequiel Duran in the second before working 1-2-3 innings in the third and fourth. He did hit Mitch Garver to lead off the fourth, but Garver was erased on a double play. 

What's even more impressive is that Newcomb has been having success so far this season with two pitches--his four-seam and his curveball--sort of. Last year with the Cubs, the lefty threw five pitches and used his curveball 10.5% of the time. This year he's up around 44%. He has also been throwing it down and in to right-handers, where last year it was landing on the outer part of the plate. 

The 30-year-old Newcomb talked about his curveball earlier this week in Oakland and said he's throwing two different types of curveball. One is a traditional curve, and one is "kind of sweep-ier. It still has a curve profile." He also said that the sweeper is similar to his slower sliders from 2017-18. After Saturday's start he told reporters of his curveball usage, "I've always kind of had that pitch, so just a matter of using it more and feeling confident throwing it in the zone. Just kind of makes the other stuff play up."

At the time of the interview earlier this week, he had yet to throw a cutter or a changeup, but he said both pitches are still in his pitch mix "I just really haven't got to them."

Saturday night he mixed in that changeup for his longer outing, tossing three of them in his 62 pitches. Two were called strikes and the third got Marcus Semien to ground out in the third inning. 

With Newcomb having success without having to mix up his pitches too much just yet, there is reason to believe that he could be in the mix for the rotation heading into camp next season. The innings limit will be a question, but if Mark Kotsay and the front office believe he's the right guy for one of those five spots, that can be worked around in creative ways.

"I've always felt like I'm a starter with the pitches I have." Newcomb said after the game. "I'm pretty confident going forward starting. I'm looking forward to it."