Today in our Season In Review series we take a look at one of the better pitching prospects in the organization and his first taste of the big leagues. Right-handed starter Mason Barnett has a high ceiling and could be a big contributor to a future A’s playoff squad, and we finally got to see him in the A’s uniform this past season. Now we’ll see if he can cement his spot on the pitching staff, whether that’s as a starter or in a relief role.
The right-hander was originally drafted in the 3rd round by the Kansas City Royals back in 2022. He would only spend two and a half seasons in their system though. The Royals and A’s lined up on a fairly big mid-season trade last season, with the A’s sending right-handed setup man Lucas Erceg to Kansas City in exchange for a package of three prospects headlined by Barnett, who at the time was considered a top-10 prospect in the Royals’ system.
What were the expectations?
Barnett came over and immediately stepped up his game at Midland. That was enough for the A’s to start him in Triple-A this past year, just one phone call away from the A’s. He entered the year ranked as the team’s #4 ranked prospect and there were expectations that we would be seeing him suit up for the Athletics at some point. The team’s focus on pitching was beginning to pay dividends and hopefully Barnett would be the first of many pitching reinforcements.
Barnett’s first go at Triple-A was not an encouraging sign of where he is in his development. After looking solid in Double-A to finish the ‘24 season the 24-year-old struggled hard in Las Vegas. His first 9 starts went particularly poorly as he had a ghastly 7.20 ERA midway through May and gave up at least one run in every single one of his starts. Things turned around a bit for the righty in June but he still was struggling to keep runs off the board. Las Vegas even used the opener strategy to help Barnett out but nothing seemed to be working. He bounced back a bit in June but then posted a 5.33 ERA in July followed by an even worse 9.00 ERA in August. The prize of the Erceg trade was not looking ready for the big leagues.
That didn’t stop the A’s from giving Barnett his first promotion to the big leagues. The A’s selected his contract for the very first time on August 26th and he’d make his big league debut a few days later in a starting assignment against the Texas Rangers. Based off Barnett’s struggles in Triple-A all year long it shouldn’t have been surprising to see him struggle against tougher competition on the highest level in the game. He got knocked around for five runs in his debut appearance but the Athletics kept him in the rotation permanently the rest of the way. The righty would end up making five more starts for the big league club during September, allowing 12 earned runs over 18 innings across four starts.
Barnett will be there when camp opens in the spring. Right now there are three locks for the starting five: Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, and Jacob Lopez. Top prospect right-hander Luis Morales opened eyes and impressed down the stretch and should get first crack at one of those final two spots, if he’s not already secured it already. The other two starting options currently on the 40-man roster are righties JT Ginn and Jack Perkins. Both of those guys were starters coming up through the minors but got some looks out of the bullpen last year for the A’s. Perkins in particular looked comfortable in the bullpen and could be an option there rather than the starting rotation.
Barnett will be 25 at the start of the season and has almost exclusively been a starting pitcher during his pro career. The A’s won’t be so quick to shift him to a bullpen role so as of now he has a puncher’s chance to break camp not only with the team, but in the starting rotation. He’ll need to show more this coming spring if that’s going to happen but the former top prospect has the repertoire to thrive in the big leagues. He just needs to put it all together and go out there and show it to everyone. The A’s will be hoping he can do just that and help solidify the backend of the starting rotation.