Joseph

Estes

Estes was called up last Friday and tossed four scoreless frames in his lone relief appearance on Sunday against the Mariners. There isn’t much time for him to make it back before the year wraps up, which means his season highlight is probably going to be his prominent involvement earlier this month in the Victor Robles bat-tossing incident at the Triple-A level.

It’s unclear if the 23-year-old hurler will take the rotation spot vacated by the injury to Jack Perkins (shoulder) or if he’ll simply add length to the bullpen for a few days while they figure out how to handle that opening. Estes has continued to struggle since his demotion to Triple-A in early April, registering a 5.51 ERA, 1.30 WHIP and a 67/20 K/BB ratio across 80 innings in 17 appearances (15 starts).

Estes heads back to the minors after getting lit up for six runs over three innings on Sunday in a loss to the Rockies. The 23-year-old served up three homers back on April 1 in his season debut against the Cubs and carries a 15.43 ERA in two starts. Estes had a 7.56 ERA in five spring training starts. He’ll get some time back at the Triple-A level to iron things out before getting another look in the majors.

Estes also issued a pair of walks while striking out three on the afternoon. Brenton Doyle did the bulk of the damage against him with a solo homer in the opening inning and a two-run double as part of a three-run uprising in the second. The 23-year-old hurler got six swings and misses on 61 pitches, posting an underwhelming CSW of only 18 percent. Estes will try to pick up the pieces and improve upon his cringe-inducing 15.43 ERA and 3.00 WHIP when he takes on the Mets in West Sacramento on Saturday.

Estes allowed nine hits, four walks and three homers. None of that is ideal. All of that, in fact, is bad. Estes struggled to end the 2024 season, and his extreme flyball rates aren’t likely to play well in a Triple-A park. His next outing is in Colorado on Sunday. Hard pass.

Springs will make his Athletics debut following Opening Day starter Luis Severino. Osvaldo Bido and JP Sears will toe the rubber for the final two games of the Athletics’ season-opening series in Seattle before Joey Estes kicks off a three-game set against the Cubs.

Good thing he was already named to the A’s rotation yesterday. That was a baffling call; Estes is the game’s most extreme flyball starter and doesn’t make up for it with nearly enough strikeouts. He’s only survived thus far because he got to make half of his starts in the Oakland Coliseum, where he had a 3.68 ERA. He has a 6.75 ERA in 66 2/3 innings elsewhere.

Gallegos reported that the Athletics will begin the season with a rotation of Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, Osvaldo Bido, JP Sears and Joey Estes as their five starters. Spence had pitched well to start spring training but gave up seven runs in his last start, which may have sealed his fate. The 26-year-old registered a 4.58 ERA, 1.38 WHIP and 126/44 K/BB ratio in 151 1/3 innings for the Athletics last season and should get more starts at some point in 2025.

Estes has a 5.87 ERA in his three starts, so he hasn’t really added to his case for a rotation spot. He did start 24 games for the A’s last year, but he appears to be no higher than sixth on the team’s SP depth chart right now.

Estes struck out two tonight, finishing off a month of September in which he fanned only 10 and gave up seven homers to the 103 batters he faced. For the year, he struck out 92 in 127 2/3 innings, giving him a 17% K rate. That’s just not going to cut it if he’s going to stick as a major league starter. After finishing with a 5.01 ERA this year, he’ll have to compete for a spot next spring.