The Athletics announced on Wednesday afternoon that right-hander Joey Estes was heading to the injured list with a back injury, and taking his place on the active will be lefty Brady Basso:
A herniated disc does not bode well for Estes’ chances of pitching again this season. It’d mark the end of a disappointing campaign for the right-hander. The 23-year-old cracked the starting rotation out of camp but got hit hard in two starts. So hard that he was sent down to Triple-A and remained there for the majority of the season. He wasn’t really pushing his way back for the majority of the season either: in 80 innings Estes posted a meager 5.51 ERA, though he pitched well in the month leading up to his recall to the big league squad a couple of days ago.
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He did make one relief appearance for the A’s and looked good, throwing four shutout innings in a blowout loss to the Mariners last week. With Jacob Lopez going on the injured list there was an opening for Estes to get another look in the rotation but that’s out the window. The hope now is that the disc injury isn’t serious enough as to require surgery, which would be a long-term ailment that’d eat into next season as well. Fingers crossed.
Basso is joining the club for the first time this season. Entering the year as one of the better left-handed pitching prospects in the organization, Basso suffered a strained shoulder that shelved him for a couple months, then a setback pushed back any return into the final stretch of the season. He’s been pitching for the Aviators for the past few weeks, making five appearances and pitching 5 2/3 innings and allowing six runs. On the positive side he did have a 7/1 K/BB ratio. He’ll be a left-handed option for Mark Kotsay out of the bullpen.