A's Sign Former Detroit Tigers Minor Leaguer

Jack O'Loughlin has signed a minor league deal with the Oakland A's

According to MLB's transactions page the A's have signed left-hander Jack O'Loughlin to a minor league deal. The southpaw is still just 23 years old, and will turn 24 in March.

Last season in Triple-A with the Toledo Mud Hens, he made it into 18 games (16 starts) and posted a 4.78 ERA with a 1.50 WHIP. He had some trouble with the long ball, giving up dingers on 10.1% of his fly balls, and that won't be aided by playing in Las Vegas. Still, he had a nice strikeout rate at 20.8% or 8.20 per nine, and his walk rate was pretty good at 3.84, considering he'd never pitched above High-A before 2023. 

In previous stops he'd been a bit more of a ground ball pitcher, coming in a little over 50% in his previous stops, but managed just a 41.2% ground ball rate with Toledo. 

In his second to last start of the season on September 13, O'Loughlin was clocked as high as 93, which came on his sinker. He's not a hard thrower and utilizes a five pitch mix. He also used all five of those pitches fairly often in that start, topping out at 27% usage with his sinker while his four-seamer was his least-used offering at 13%. 

The 6-foot-5 lefty hails from Australia and signed as an international free agent in 2016. He'll be working on his consistency in the minors.

As for where he fits with the A's, he's likely going to start the season as a depth option in the minors with a number of pitchers already in the mix to compete for a spot in the rotation. That said, with a strong Spring Training and a good stretch in Las Vegas, he could work himself up to the big league level before long if Oakland's pitching struggles as mightily as it did at the beginning of last season.