Will A's Osvaldo Bido Break Out In 2025?
Earlier this week, MLB Network posted on "X" about their breakout candidates for the 2025 season. On the list was A's right-hander and possible rotation candidate, Osvaldo Bido.
These up-and-comers are looking to build on successful 2024 campaigns 📈 pic.twitter.com/U9L1rSOIwG
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) January 28, 2025
The A's originally landed Osvaldo Bido on a major league contract last off-season after he spent his 2023 campaign with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Bido made 16 appearances and started nine games with the Pirates where he held a 5.86 ERA in just over 50 innings. He then of course elected free agency, which led to the A's signing him.
Osvaldo Bido spent his 2024 season with the A's, where he appeared in 16 games and made nine starts with the green and gold- the same amount of starts and appearances he made in 2023 with the Pirates. In just over 63 innings pitched last season, he posted a 3.41 ERA with 63 strikeouts and 26 walks.
Bido's baseball savant page is quite intriguing to look at. Notably, he's in the 100th percentile in hard hit percentage, 99th percentile in average exit velocity, 98th percentile in expected batting average, 94th in expected ERA, and 93rd percentile in barrel percentage.
The A's will be playing their 2025 season in Sutter Health Park, a minor-league stadium, which will be slightly more hitter-friendly than the Oakland Coliseum was. MLB.com's MartÃn Gallegos wrote about the ballpark not being as hitter-friendly as you might think, but with the extremely hot temperatures in West Sacramento and less foul territory, it will still be hitter-friendly.
The A's have said this offseason that they believe it will be more middle of the pack in terms of park factors, so it's not like they're moving to Coors Field in Colorado.
Because Sutter Health Park will be hitter-friendly, at least compared to the Coliseum, it will be important for A's pitchers to allow weaker contact or have a higher ground ball percentage, which is something the A's have targeted this winter.
As mentioned, Bido is in the 100th percentile of pitchers in hard hit percentage, meaning he generally allows weak contact. Bido was in the second percentile of ground ball percentage, which needs work--especially pitching in a place like Sutter Health Park. His 29.6% ground ball rate was the second-lowest on the club, just ahead of Joey Estes' 24.6%.
Bido also ranks highly in another interesting category, which is infield fly ball rate. The righty held a 22.8% rate, which was tops among all pitchers who tossed at least 60 innings. Granted, this is a small sample size that we're working with, but if he's not keeping the ball on the ground, then pop-ups will also work.
Entering his 2025 campaign, Osvaldo Bido will be looking to earn himself a spot in the rotation, but has a bit of competition with Luis Severino, JP Sears, Jeffrey Springs, Mitch Spence, and Joey Estes the most likely pitchers to win rotation spots. However, if Bido can put up good numbers in Spring Training, it's certainly not impossible for him to make an impact in the rotation, or at the very least in the A's bullpen.
I grew up playing baseball, and also enjoyed watching and writing about my favorite team, the A’s. Being a diehard A’s fan from New Jersey is certainly not common, but I love the team and all of the current and former players so much. I currently attend school at Penn State Scranton where I get the opportunity to play college baseball.