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A’s injuries: James Kaprielian will return Sunday

Kaprielian will return from injured list to make season debut

By Alex Hall
/ new
Texas Rangers v Oakland Athletics Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images

Good news on the injury front!

Pitcher James Kaprielian will start for the Oakland A’s on Sunday, at home against the Cleveland Guardians, reports Matt Kawahara of the S.F. Chronicle.

This will be Kaprielian’s 2022 season debut. The right-hander missed spring training due to irritation in his shoulder (AC joint), and that delay caused him to begin the year on the 10-day injured list. He since made three rehab outings in the minors, one at Low-A Stockton and two at Triple-A Las Vegas, and now he’s ready to return to the majors.

Last summer Kaprielian posted a solid rookie campaign in Oakland, making 24 appearances (21 starts) and finishing with roughly league-average numbers. He was expected to slot into the rotation again this year, and now he’ll get the chance to do so, though he won’t be officially activated from the IL until Sunday morning.

  • Kaprielian, 2021: 4.07 ERA, 119⅔ ip, 123 Ks, 41 BB, 19 HR, 4.33 FIP, .324 xwOBA

In the meantime, the rest of the A’s rotation has done a good job, but there’s still an obvious place for Kaprielian. Frankie Montas, Cole Irvin, Daulton Jefferies, and Paul Blackburn each have ERA marks under 3.50, albeit with varying degrees of underlying stats to back up that early success. Filling in the fifth spot has been rookie Adam Oller, but he was knocked around in three starts so far (11.17 ERA, 9.27 FIP), and was originally supposed to be in the bullpen to begin the year.

In other injury news Friday, the A’s activated infielder Kevin Smith from the 10-day IL, and professional hitter Jed Lowrie from the COVID-related IL. Click here for more details on those moves.

Here’s the updated injury report, which is getting much shorter lately:

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