Sean Manaea’s bounce-back will be key to the A’s postseason hopes
Sean Manaea’s 2021 season has reached Cy Young contending highs and plummeted to concerning lows. If he can keep up his bounce-back, the 29-year-old starter may hold the keys to the A’s postseason hopes.
The Oakland A’s feeble attempts to gain some leverage in a tight wild card race has mostly been held back by the pitching staff’s fatigue. Manaea’s tumultuous August in which he posted a 9.90 ERA coincided with a stretch in which the rotation couldn’t complete more than five innings in 19-of-26 starts and a consequentially taxed bullpen blew eight saves over their last 19 games. Chris Bassitt’s injury, plus Cole Irvin and James Kaprielian pitching into unfamiliar territory shifted weight to experienced starters Frankie Montas and Manaea.
But even Manaea is wading into unfamiliar territory. Should he pitch more than four innings in his next start against the Kansas City Royals, Manaea will have reached a career-high in innings — he pitched 160 2/3 in 2018. Can he help lead the pitching staff to greener pastures? A turnaround September in which he posted a 1.93 ERA over two starts indicates he’s up to the task.
At least one start against the Seattle Mariners could prove beneficial, too. Manaea is 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA this season and has eight career wins against the wild-card contending Mariners, who the A’s play seven more times this year.
Offseason physical and mental adjustments have helped produce a career year for Manaea in which he could become the first A’s pitching in franchise history to average at least 10 strikeouts per nine innings in a season. His 174 strikeouts rank ninth in the American League.
During spring training, Manaea said he switched his workout routine to one that strengthens his adductor muscles to help his rotations. After gaining weight, too, his 90mph average fastball velocity in 2019 and 2020 jumped to a 92 mph average. Along with his changeup and improved curveball, those extra ticks of fastball velocity generate 10 percentage points more swings and misses in 2021 (25% whiff rate) than in 2020 (15%).
Manaea has the opportunity to help lead the charge and prove that first-half Manaea is the real deal. With that August skid included, his 3.79 ERA ranks 11th best in the American League in 28 starts. His last four or five starts could be the boost this A’s team needs to elevate them into a postseason spot very much up for grabs.
Entering the A’s road trip to Kansas City, then Los Angeles to play the Angels, the A’s are 2.5 games out of the second wild card spot, currently held by the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. The Mariners are 2 games behind the Yankees. The Toronto Blue Jays surged into the first spot, where they hold a one game advantage over the Yankees.
Burch Smith DFA’d, Domingo Acevedo selected
The A’s made a roster move Tuesday afternoon, designating reliever Burch Smith for assignment and bringing back right-handed reliever Domingo Acevedo to the bullpen.
With Daulton Jefferies and Miguel Romero among the multi-inning options, Smith was a redundancy in the bullpen. The A’s staff needed another one-inning arm, manager Bob Melvin said.
Acevedo hasn’t allowed a run in 11 of his last 12 appearances with Triple-A Las Vegas. He is 2-0 with nine saves, a 2.48 ERA in 30 total relief appearances this year with 53 strikeouts and six total walks allowed. Acevedo, 27, was previously selected on June 21, optioned on July 3 and DFA’d on July 30 to make room for Yan Gomes and Josh Harrison on the 40-man roster at the trade deadline.
A promising 2020 season for Smith before his injury mid-year never came full circle in 2021. Smith gave up 26 runs in 31 appearances this year (5.40 ERA) with a 1.38 WHIP. His 28 total strikeouts give him a 15% strikeout rate that ranks in the bottom four percentile; his opponents’ 91mph average exit velocity also ranks in the bottom seven percentile in baseball.
Matt Chapman out again
Chapman will miss his second straight game, out with a sore left shin from fouling a pitch off his leg during Saturday’s game against the Texas Rangers.
“Just still kind of locked up and not moving around really well. Hoping we get some progress here soon,” Melvin said.
Harrison will play third base for the A’s series opener against the Royals on Tuesday. Montas will make his 29th start riding a four game stretch in which he notched seven innings three times and 6 2/3 once.
Here’s the lineup against right-handed starter Jackson Kowar:
3B Josh Harrison
CF Starling Marte
1B Matt Olson
DH Jed Lowrie
LF Mark Canha
RF Seth Brown
C Sean Murphy
2B Tony Kemp
SS Elvis Andrus
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