An overall successful season for the rookie right-hander
We stick around the bullpen for today’s second part of our Season In Review series. After taking a look at since-departed Easton Lucas, we now take a look at a relief arm that brought a lot more excitement to the team in 2024 and promises to be a big part of the ‘pen next year. That player is Tyler Ferguson.
How was he acquired?
The Athletics signed the Vanderbilt product to a minor league deal on November 15th of last year. Ferguson, who is a local guy from Fresno, joined the Athletics as his seventh organization since being drafted in the 6th round by the Texas Rangers way back in 2015, so before this season he was a seasoned veteran of the minor leagues, finding temporary homes but struggling to make that final jump to The Show.
What were the expectations?
Considering that the then-30 year old Ferguson had never pitched in the major leagues entering the year, expectations were fairly low for the right-handed reliever. Lots of arms sign minor league deals with teams and never make it to the big leagues that year, instead serving as unused depth. The Athletics though have had injuries and ineffectiveness strike their relief corps in recent seasons, so it wasn’t out of the question that Ferguson could be called up. It would be all up to how he did in the minors leading up to any potential roster moves. If the club needed a reliever for a day after a long extra-inning game or a short start from their starter, someone like Ferguson could absolutely come up to the big leagues to help out a short-handed bullpen. At least, that was the bare minimum the team was hoping for from this signing.
2024 Results
Everything went about as well as possibly hoped for this past year for the rookie. While Ferguson didn’t break camp with the club, he looked good during spring training, appearing in 10 outings without allowing a single earned run. Ferguson kept it up for Triple-A Las Vegas once the season got started as well. Over the first month-plus of the minor league season Ferguson pitched 14 games and posted a solid 2.40 ERA with an impressive 24 strikeouts in just 15 innings, including four saves. He was doing his part to earn that long-awaited promotion.
That performance finally, after seven long years of minor league baseball, earned Ferguson his first major league call up on May 7th. The Athletics didn’t wait to get him into a game either, sending him to the mound the same day for his debut. It was a successful debut as he fired two scoreless innings against the rival Rangers, striking out three batters as well. His first five outings were scoreless appearances before showing he was actually human with a disaster outing.
Unlike with Lucas though, the club elected to keep Ferguson on the roster despite a blowup performance. Over the next few months the righty minor league veteran opened eyes among A’s coaches, While his pre-All Star ERA sat an unsightly 5.09, if you remove that one blowup outing in his sixth appearance his ERA drops all the way to 3.24 which looks much more like the pitcher that we saw in the first half. He turned it up a notch in the second half, sporting a 2.94 ERA over 33 relief appearances post-break, becoming a workhorse for manager Mark Kotsay to use out of the bullpen. He even managed to secure his first two career saves down the stretch, showcasing his mid-90’s fastball and an above-average slider that bodes well for his future as a late-inning arm. He would never be sent back down to Triple-A, finishing the year with the A’s and a 3.68 ERA over 48 relief outings. Take out that 4-run blowup? That ERA comes all the way down to 3.04, which would make him one of the better setup men in the league.
2025 Outlook
The 2025 season could be a very promising one for the now-31 year old Ferguson. Ahead of him in the bullpen pecking order is obviously All-Star closer Mason Miller and maybe lefty TJ McFarland and fellow righty Michel Otanez but the right-handed Ferguson should be right there in the group of setup options for Kotsay, perhaps even the top right-handed setup man. He’s a late bloomer without a doubt, but the A’s love them some late bloomers. While he’s under contract for another five seasons his age will make him less attractive to other teams so don’t expect another Lucas Erceg situation with Ferguson getting bandied about in trade discussions. He’ll likely be around all next year, trying to prove that 2024 wasn’t a fluke and that his years in the minors were worth it. We’re all rooting for him to show that he’s finally figured it out because the A’s bullpen needs stable, quality options. We may have a gem on our hands, people!
