J.T. Ginn is the Perfect Pitcher for the A's in Sacramento
As we have seen over the first handful of games at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, when the wind is blowing out, the ball tends to carry. This has led to some rough outings for A's pitchers at home this season--especially in that first series--but it appears as though the team is making strides in the right direction.
On Saturday, the team officially called up J.T. Ginn from Triple-A to serve as the team's No. 5 starter after right-hander Joey Estes struggled in the role, posting a 15.43 ERA across seven innings spanning two starts.
Meanwhile Ginn held a 1.64 ERA in 11 innings over his two starts in the minors to begin the year. The two standout features of his profile with the Las Vegas Aviators were that he was striking guys out at a ridiculous 51.4% clip, and his ground ball rate was at 56.3%, which is roughly around where it has been during his time in the minors.
It was that high ground ball rate that had us here at Athletics on SI saying that Ginn could be a sneaky option for the A's rotation way back in November. We also mentioned that Joey Estes could struggle to begin the year as he figures things out, and listed him as a player to watch in camp.
The reasoning was pretty simple: He's a fly ball pitcher that had tremendous success at the Oakland Coliseum, but struggled mightily on the road. It's just going to take some time to see if he needed to adjust with the new A's home, and if so, to make those adjustments.
Ginn made his first start with the Athletics on Saturday, going 5.1 innings, allowing four hits, one earned run, walking two, and striking out six. The lone run came on a Brandon Nimmo solo shot in the top of the sixth inning.
It was a pretty solid start for the former second rounder, and he showed exactly what we'd been hoping to see: ground balls and strikeouts. On top of the six punch-outs, he also recorded nine outs on the ground, while keeping the ball (mostly) out of the air.
It's certainly harder to hit home runs if the pitcher is getting weak ground balls and striking everyone else out.
The biggest difference with Ginn from year-to-year has been his velocity bump, with his sinker and his slider--his two most frequently-used pitches--sitting at 94.8 and 87.2. That's an increase of 1.9 miles per hour on each offering. The one changeup he threw was 2.6 miles per hour harder.
The other big difference is that he has seemingly scrapped the four-seamer that he used last season, and is instead using a cutter. On Saturday his new offering resulted in just one ball being put into play, and it came off the bat at just 67.1 mph. Weak contact, grounders, and strikeouts. That's a lethal mix for any park.
Mets slugger Pete Alonso came into the game hitting .378 with a .482 OBP and a 243 wRC+ (100 is league average) to begin the year, and in his first two at-bats against Ginn, the young righty got him to strike out swinging. He'd struck out just five times in 45 at-bats this season before Saturday.
Toronto Blue Jays righty and former A's pitcher Chris Bassitt is the only other pitcher to get Alonso to strike out multiple times in the same game.
In Alonso's third at-bat, he grounded out to third on a 94.1 mph sinker. The exit velocity on that pitch was 40.8 mph, the softest hit ball of the afternoon. Obviously this is one start for Ginn, but using one of the hottest hitters in baseball as a barometer, and how he had no answer for the A's righty, should mean more solid starts are on the horizon.
Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.