A's Sign Spencer Patton to Minor League Deal

Patton, 35, spent the last two seasons with the Texas Rangers

The Oakland A's have signed Spencer Patton to a minor-league contract, per Jon Heyman. 

The 35-year-old right-hander has a career 5.11 ERA in the big leagues over 104 innings. The past two with the Rangers, Patton has racked up 49.1 innings and 3.83 ERA out of the bullpen. His FIP during that time was a solid 3.55 and his ERA+ came in at 115. 

After pitching in the big leagues from 2014 to 2016, Patton spent the 2017 to 2020 seasons overseas, playing for the Yokohama Bay Stars in NPB. In four seasons he got into 219 games and totaled 205.2 innings with a cumulative 3.68 ERA. The stats he put up in Japan mirror what he put up in the Majors the last two seasons, including his 3.7 walks per nine and his 10.6 strikeouts per nine. With the Rangers his strikeout rate was 10.2 in 2021 and his walk rate was 3.2. 

The signing hasn't been posted to the A's official transactions page yet, but it's likely that Patton will be joining the Las Vegas Aviators bullpen once the deal is complete. 

Last season his fastball sat 92, and he also offered a slider (82 mph) and a split finger (85). One interesting stat that could be why the A's are giving him a look is that batters produced an average exit velo of just 85.9 in 2021, which is nearly three miles per hour less than the league average. Oakland has had success with a number of guys that don't have the best "stuff" but they can generate weak contact. 

His small sample size last year (seven innings) wasn't as good. He gave up an average exit velo of 87.6 and also dropped 1.3 miles per hour on his heater. He'd been sitting 93 the previous year. 

The A's have veterans Jeurys Familia and Trevor May in the bullpen in Oakland, with Drew Steckenrider and Austin Pruitt in Las Vegas. They also have Shintaro Fujinami from NPB and Drew Rucinski from the KBO. Adding Patton is a depth move, but another potentially solid arm to add to the mix should the need arise.