A's Pitching Woes Leading to Down May

Jason Burke | May 28, 2024

Apr 30, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics pitcher Alex Wood (57) delivers a pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the first inning at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports / Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

The Oakalnd A's are 8-16 in the month of May, which leads many to believe that they're not playing well. While the record can't be changed, the A's have plenty going right for them with the bats. The issue this month has been with the pitching staff, which is understandable with 80% of the Opening Day rotation winding up on the IL over the past few weeks.

The rotation's ERA has stayed relatively steady from March/April (5.00) to 5.30 in May, but the starters haven't been going as deep into games, which has had an impact on the bullpen. Starters totaled 160 1/3 innings in the opening month, spanning 29 games. This month they have a total of 112 innings through 24 games. Even if they combined to throw nine innings in their next five games (including one in June), they wouldn't reach the innings total put up last month, finishing with 157 innings.

That extra workload has impacted the bullpen, which finished the first month of the season with the second-best ERA in baseball at 2.51, right behind Cleveland's 2.49. They combined for 114 2/3 innings over those first 29 games. In May they're at 101 1/3 innings in five fewer games and have a combined 4.44 ERA, which ranks 22nd in baseball.

To put this in simpler terms, the starters and relievers had a 58/42% split of the workload in the opening month, and the bullpen has picked up more innings this month at a 52.5/47.5% split.

This isn't all workload-related, however. The injuries to Alex Wood, Paul Blackburn, Joe Boyle, and most recently Ross Stripling have thrust the A's depth to the fore. The depth pieces on any ballclub represent a little bit of a drop-off, but as we've seen with guys like Joey Estes and Mitch Spence, this is being used as an opportunity to learn and grow at the big-league level.

The point of this isn't to dump on the A's pitching this month, but instead to put things in perspective. Yes, the team had struggled, but there are logical reasons for their struggles. The hope is that when Luis Medina, Alex Wood, and Paul Blackburn return to the mix that the team can hit their stride once more.