MLB pitching breakout candidate: James Kaprielian
The Oakland Athletics have a murky future, and an ownership that appears intent on not contending. As an Athletics fan, you have to look hard for bright spots, but I wouldn’t look any future than James Kaprielian.
Drafted in the first round (16th overall) by the Yankees in 2015, Kaprielian was shipped over to Oakland as part of the Sonny Gray trade. Oddly enough, he was recovering from Tommy John Surgery during that trade. He was one of the Yankees top pitching prospects at the time, and reached #58 on MLB.com’s prospect list in 2017.
It took until 2020 for Kaprielian to get a cup of coffee in the big leagues, and it wasn’t pretty at first. The first two years and change of his big league career have been a mix of promise, and disappointment. Last year, he held a 4.23 ERA and 4.63 FIP for the Athletics.
As everyone else on this list, he finished 2022 very strong. Over 65 innings, he compiled a 3.32 ERA and 3.42 FIP after the All-Star break. He provided the exact consistency that will be necessary for him to put up better numbers.
Kaprielian’s slider is his bread and butter, and opponents batted .190 against it last year. It also had a .357 slugging against, and a 35.4 whiff percentage.
The key to getting out of Oakland in the past has been performing well enough to bring in good prospects in a trade. Hopefully Kaprielian is able to get his value up so he can wear a different uniform soon.