‘Bullpen’s back in action,’ reliever Wendelken says
As a returning A’s reliever, J.B. Wendelken is a fan of the team’s recent flurry of bullpen moves: trading for Adam Kolarek, signing Yusmeiro Petit and Sergio Romo, and agreeing to a deal (not yet official) with closer Trevor Rosenthal.
“I mean, highfives all around to the guys that did the signing,” Wendelken said on a video call Sunday. “All the additions we have are absolutely gasoline to help us out, for sure. … Bullpen’s back in action.”
Wendelken was an understated factor in the A’s posting the majors’ lowest bullpen ERA (2.72) in 2020. The righthander had a 1.80 ERA in 25 innings (second most after Liam Hendriks’ 251⁄3) with 31 strikeouts. Wendelken led A’s relievers in batters faced and held them to a .546 OPS.
He was also a goto option for manager Bob Melvin with men on base. Wendelken tied for the majors lead with 24 inherited runners last year, stranding 16 of them.
“Yusmeiro’s been our guy (in those situations) for the most part, but he can’t pitch every day,” Melvin said. “You get an opportunity when you pitch well to get into that role, and (Wendelken) succeeded in that role. So he’ll get more reps in that type of situation.”
Confidence was a key for Wendelken last year, Melvin said. Another was his slider. Wendelken said he began throwing a slider at pitching coach Scott Emerson’s urging as a change of pace in 2019. He threw it 4.7% of the time that season but 26.2% of the time in 2020, per Baseball Savant. Hitters slugged .125 against the slider last season, and it was his most effective putaway pitch in twostrike counts.
“Going into this year, we have that much more faith in him, and he makes our bullpen a lot better when you bring in the type of guys we have here recently and still have a guy like J.B. that can kind of pitch those middle innings — if someone’s in the setup role, he can do that,” Melvin said. “He’s got postseason experience now. He’s a bona fide big leaguer now.”
Briefly: Catcher Sean Murphy is in camp several weeks after having surgery for a collapsed lung and had his physical Sunday but likely won’t start baseball activity “for a while,” Melvin said. … It’s unlikely the A’s would start the season with 14 pitchers on their 26man roster, Melvin said, given they want at least a fourman bench. … Catcher Carlos Perez and pitcher Deolis Guerra are not in camp yet because of visa issues.