The Athletics are in the market for a second baseman, a third baseman, help in the starting rotation, and perhaps a left-handed relief pitcher if they have time. The St. Louis Cardinals have a slew of targets for the A’s to consider, like Brendan Donovan at second, or Sonny Gray in the rotation on the trade market.
On Friday, the Cardinals decided to non-tender lefty relief pitcher John King, making him a free agent, and he is exactly the type of pitcher the A’s should be going after in the coming days.
King was originally selected by the Texas Rangers in the 10th round of the 2017 MLB Draft, and was traded to the Cardinals at the 2023 Trade Deadline as part of the return for Jordan Montgomery. In his three seasons in St. Louis, he has held a cumulative 3.33 ERA across 127 innings of work, and in two of those three seasons he was exceptional.
The past season was the one in which he didn’t perform up to his own standard. Making 51 appearances, he held a 4.66 ERA (5.00 FIP) across 48 1/3 innings of work and held an astronomical 21.1% home run/fly ball ratio. Part of the problem last year was that his sinker, which he threw 66% of the time to lefties, was in prime home run real estate for left-handed bats.
The other reason that his home run: fly ball rate is so high is that he just doesn’t allow that many fly balls. His 60% ground ball rate ranked in the 98th percentile last season, while the A’s as a team ranked last in ground ball rate at 37.4%. Playing in a more hitter-friendly environment, they could use more balls on the ground as a staff.