Will Puk be on opening roster?
MARYVALE, Ariz. — The most impressive starting pitcher in A’s camp is a 6-foot-7 lefty who’s not supposed to make the season-opening rotation.
A.J. Puk has pitched eight innings without yielding an earned run in Cactus League play this spring, and there’s little doubt he’ll make his major-league debut this season. The question is how soon. “I would put nothing past him,” manager Bob Melvin said when asked about Puk pitching for the A’s in 2018. “I would be surprised if we did not see him, and who knows.”
As in, who knows if Puk — the sixth overall pick in the 2016 draft — would join the A’s sooner rather than later.
“We’ll keep giving him starts here,” Melvin said, “and if he continues to perform well, he could be here later and later in camp.”
The later Puk remains with the A’s and avoids being shipped to minor-league camp, the more an argument could be made for him to open the season in Oakland, not with Triple-A Nashville.
In Friday’s 59-pitch outing, he threw three scoreless innings in a 2-0 victory over Milwaukee. In eight overall innings, he has struck out six, allowed four hits and issued three walks.
“I think it’s anybody’s goal,” Puk said of breaking camp with the A’s. “I’m not in control of it. I just go out there and try to pitch to the best of my ability.”
There are factors beyond how good he is, however. He hasn’t thrown a pitch in Triple-A. He spent just one full season in the minors. He topped off at 125 innings.
Then there’s the service time issue. The A’s aren’t expected to contend, so there’s no reason to start Puk’s arbitration (or freeagent) clock by including him on the Opening Day roster.
On the other hand, he’s pitching as if he does belong.
“He’s done nothing to suggest up to this point he doesn’t,” Melvin said. “Now, he doesn’t have a lot of experience in the minor leagues. Certainly, in general now, if you perform, it’s not like there’s an X amount of seasoning as maybe in the past you would look for. So if you’re a talented young guy, you have a chance to move quickly.”
Puk, who turns 23 in April, struck out 184 batters in 125 innings (13.2 Ks per nine innings) last season at Class A Stockton and Double-A Midland — and gave up just three home runs.
He was 6-10 with a 4.03 ERA and 1.248 WHIP.
The A’s have spots available in the rotation, and it’s not as if other candidates have pitched well enough to win those spots.
“He’s been very impressive to the point where we were piggybacking (starting pitchers in games), and now you split guys up and give them their own days,” Melvin said. “Based on performance, he has his own day, and he’s been running with it.”