After the disappointing season the Athletics had last year, many people put the blame on the bullpen. This year, the starters are the ones who have been under performing. In the past decade, even during the struggling years between playoff appearances, the starting rotation was generally seen as a bright spot for the Athletics. Even if the Athletics traded some of these pitchers for large hauls, they were able to insert other pitchers who would be able to get the job done. This is what made losing pitchers like Gio Gonzalez or Trevor Cahill tolerable. The starting pitchers would be able show that they could still be one of the best staffs in the American League no matter what name was on the back of the jersey. However, this year has been very uncharacteristic of the Athletics starters. They have been unable to find their groove this season, with the exception of a few flashes of potential.

Although injuries have hampered the rotation, even the healthy pitchers, other than Rich Hill, have not lived up to their full potential that they have reached before.

Here is a breakdown of the starting pitchers of the 2016 season in order of appearance.

Rich Hill:

Rich Hill was signed in the off-season for $6 million through one year with the guarantee that he would have a spot in the starting rotation. In his time as an Athletic, he has shown that his six starts last year was no fluke. This season’s opening day starter, who filled in for a sick Sonny Gray, has begun the season with seven wins. Hill accounts for more than one third of the Athletics’ wins through 47 games (as of May 25, 2016). A large contribution to his success may be due to his deadly curveball that induces a lot of swings and misses.

More than 40 percent of his pitches are curveballs which leads to more strikeouts. In fact, he has 65 strikeouts through 57.2 innings this season. He has also managed to keep his WHIP low so he does not allow many base runners when he is on the mound. The one downside to Hill’s season thus far has been the amount of pitches he throws in each start. This has not stopped him from being a dominant pitcher but it is something to keep an eye on since he recently returned to pitching late last season.

Chris Bassitt:

Chris Bassitt, who was acquired in a trade with the Chicago White Sox, is a pitcher who earned his rotation spot this spring training. He showed potential last season, despite a record of 1-8, but was a rotation favorite after his spring performance. His season was cut very short when it was announced that he needed Tommy John surgery after his fifth start. He had two stellar starts this season against the Kansas City Royals and Seattle Mariners; but, in his other starts, he allowed 17 runs in 14 innings. He is a pitcher who can go deep into games but also has the ability to be lit up by opposing offenses when his pitching lacks finesse.

Sonny Gray:

Last year, Athletics ace Sonny Gray was an All Star pitcher and came in third place in Cy Young voting. With his struggles this year, it is unlikely that he will match similar accolades. His year got off to a rocky start when he was scratched just before Opening Day. But, Gray was able to show his dominance in his first start of the season where he went seven innings and only allowed one earned run which lead to his first win of the season. This was the ace the fans were expecting. However, this was the best start of Gray’s season.

He was able to put up similar numbers in a start against the Kansas City Royals; but with a high pitch count, his night was cut short after six innings. In each start since, Gray had given up at least three runs which caused his ERA to skyrocket to 6.19 as of May 25. His most recent start, which saw him exiting the mound in the third inning with four earned runs, was quickly followed by a trip to the 15 day disabled list with a strained right trapezius. Hopefully with this rest, Gray will be able to bounce back to his regular form that he has shown a small amount of times this season. But, he will need to get his pitch count down and have more control on his pitches in order to hit the strike zone and not throw those wild pitches that were seen in his last start against the Yankees.

Kendall Graveman:

Aside from Rich Hill, Kendall Graveman has been the only other Athletics pitcher to make all of his starts this season. Although his record does not quite accurately speak for his season, Graveman has shown why he is still making a case for his rotation spot. In five of his nine starts, Graveman allowed two or fewer runs; which shows he has the tools to be a solid number three starter. However, his weakness seems to be fatigue. Even in his decent starts, his performances are ended early; usually around the fifth and sixth innings. All but one start has seen Graveman exit in between innings because of his inability to finish an inning. He needs to be able to make that final push in his starts and bail himself out of a jam because it is clear when his final pitch of the game is approaching. The unfortunate part of this is that his fatigue sets in with not much warning.

Eric Surkamp:

Eric Surkamp made a late push during spring training with a start that was good enough for the Athletics to call him up to start in place of Felix Doubront for the fifth game of the season. He is a pitcher that simply does not have the ability to pitch deep into games. So, the Athletics just hope that he can do well enough in his short amount of time and then turn it over to the bullpen. With Surkamp having a very high WHIP of 1.95, it is difficult for the Athletics to keep him in the game past five innings. He has been more of a rotation placeholder for other starting pitchers who are injured. He works fine as an insurance piece but is not someone to rely to heavily on.

Sean Manaea:

In late April, when the Athletics’ rotation was depleted, the team decided it was time to give top prospect Sean Manaea an opportunity to earn a spot on the rotation. Acquired in a mid-season trade with the Royals last year, Manaea was seen as one of the higher ranked minor league pitchers. Although he did have one amazing start against the Texas Rangers, in which he allowed one earned run through 6.2 innings, he has simply not pitched the way he was expected to. Sometimes with rookie pitchers, it takes some time for the opposing lineups to figure them out. However, this has not been the case for Manaea. In his worst start, he gave up eight runs on 10 hits in just 2.2 innings. He has yet to settle in the league and he still has not shaken off his nerves. More time in AAA may be helpful to Manaea in order for him to gain confidence and return back to his expected form. He was worthy of being a top prospect – he just needs more time to work out his kinks and make a smooth transition to the MLB.

Jesse Hahn:

When Jesse Hahn was acquired, most people thought he had the makings of a solid number two starter. In his shortened season last year, Hahn had a record of 6-6 with an ERA of 3.35. But after an injury and an underwhelming spring, he lost his starting rotation spot in favor of Felix Doubront. Even when Doubront went down in the first week of the season, the Athletics opted to go with Eric Surkamp because they wanted Hahn to make improvements in AAA. However, as with Sean Manaea, the Athletics were in need of starting pitching for the late April series against the Houston Astros.

Hahn performed incredibly well as he did not allow a single run to the struggling Astros. Through four starts, this has been Hahn’s only win. In the other three starts, he allowed 11 runs on 24 hits and five walks. This has caused his WHIP to increase to 1.40. Hahn does have the ability to improve throughout the season because he can go deep into games and he can command pitches. He still has the potential to be a number two starter even if his numbers might not show it this season. The problem is that he has given up too many hits and too many home runs this season compared to last season.

This article was written before Zach Neal became the eighth starting pitcher of the season for the Athletics.

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