A's Place Mason Miller on IL, Recall Luis Medina

Oakland brings up two pitchers in series of moves

Mason Miller felt some tightness in his right elbow after his Sunday start, and his MRI came back clean. The plan for Miller was to have him start playing catch on Friday if the soreness level was manageable. 

Today the A's announced that they had placed the promising young right-hander on the IL among a series of moves.

Up: Luis Medina recalled, Zach Neal selected.

Down: Rico Garcia optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas

IL: Mason Miller. Manny Piña transferred to 60-day IL to make room on the 40-man for Neal.

Zach Neal had been expected to be named the A's starter for Thursday's game against the Texas Rangers, but the official lineup has Medina in that role. Neal pitched in the big leagues for the A's in 2016 and 2017, getting into 30 games between the two seasons and putting up a 4.89 ERA across 84.2 innings. He signed with the A's as a minor league free agent in April after spending time in the Dodgers, Reds, and Rockies organizations. 

Neal has made it into three games with the Triple-A Aviators this season, starting two of them. In 11.1 innings, he has a 5.56 ERA, with eleven strikeouts, and five walks. 

Luis Medina made a brief appearance for the A's this season against the Los Angeles Angels before being optioned back to Triple-A afterwards. His last appearance for the Aviators came out of the bullpen on May 7. He walked one and struck out one in two-thirds of an inning. 

Rico Garcia, 29, made it into three games with Oakland, and in his latest outing against the Yankees on Wednesday he allowed five earned in two-thirds of an inning. The one concern with Garcia is that his strikeout rate hasn't translated to the Majors, and that trend continued in this very brief stint. He struck out one in three innings. 

The boys are back in town ⚾️ pic.twitter.com/m7PPN57dqO

— Oakland A's (@Athletics) May 11, 2023