Oakland Athletics: Re-Examining the Rotation in the Absence of Sonny Gray
Twenty-five-year-old Sean Manaea is one of the A’s most promising up and coming pitchers.
The left-hander put up some good numbers in his rookie season, making 2016 look like a potential breakout year.
Last season Manaea went 7-9 in 24 starts with a 3.86 ERA and pitched just under 150 innings, while collecting 7.7 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.
Those numbers, according to Fangraphs, are even more impressive given that he gave up 21 of his runs in his first 27 innings in the big leagues.
He adjusted well to the majors putting up better number in the second half of the season and while he still has steps to take, all indications point to Manaea improving more and more.
It’s likely he’ll be the number two starter (without Gray in the mix). It’s a big position for the youngster to be in but again signs point to the fact that Manaea is up for the challenge.
Mostly a three-pitch pitcher, Manaea throws a four-seam fastball, changeup and an excellent slider that produced a 20 percent swinging strike rate all on its own.
Manaea’s 12 percent overall swinging strike rate ranked above notable superstars like Madison Bumgarner, Stephen Strasburg and Chris Sale. This means it’s very likely that there will be an uptick in his strikeout numbers in the future.
Of course, every young pitcher has to make the necessary adjustments that come with moving from the minors to the majors.
He needs to work on getting out right-handers though. Seventeen of the 21 home runs he allowed in 2015 were hit by right-handed hitters.
Manaea also needs to be more aware when he’s playing away from the A’s expansive home field at the Oakland Coliseum, his numbers were skewed towards him playing better at home.
Given that Manaea has only made 24 big league starts, his full potential has yet to be realized. Pitching second in the rotation is a big job but Manaea shows every indication that he’s going to continue to develop into one of the league’s elite starters.