The past few winters, the Athletics have made a habit of collecting hard-throwing relievers off the waiver wire or on minor-league deals, and all of those arms have one thing in common: they also have a hard time throwing strikes.
In 2024, Michel Otañez made his MLB debut with the A's, holding a 3.44 ERA (2.73 FIP) across 34 innings out of the bullpen. He held a strikeout rate of 36.4% with a 13.2% walk rate. The following year, that strikeout rate dropped to 21.4% while his walk rate ballooned to 17.9%, and his ERA went the same way. He went from a potential closer to off the A's roster by the end of May.
The Texas Rangers claimed Otañez off waivers from the A's last offseason, and he spent the whole year in Triple-A, holding a 4.42 ERA.
Elvis Alvarado was another one of those high-velocity, low-command arms the A's added one winter, and in 2025 he made his own MLB debut, posting a 3.19 ERA (4.32 FIP) with a 27.3% strikeout rate and a 12% walk rate. He was in a similar mold as Otañez, but with fewer strikeouts and a FIP that suggested trouble beneath the surface.
So when Alvarado came out and struggled to begin the season in 2026, it wasn't completely shocking, despite the fan base selecting him as the team's likely closer before the season.
Through the middle of April in 2026, Alvarado was the second-worst pitcher on the A's staff, holding an 8.38 ERA (4.75 FIP) with a 20.5% strikeout rate and a 15.9% walk rate. It was a similar story for Alvarado that we'd seen the year before: Hard-throwing bullpen piece has immediate success and locates enough to have success.
The A's optioned him to Triple-A Las Vegas on April 17, but he was able to find success pitching for the Aviators, holding a 2.25 ERA in 12 innings, striking out 16 and walking just four.
His success in the minors earned him another look with the A's in early June, and he established that he was not the same guy as earlier in the season immediately, tossing two scoreless innings in Houston, before shutting down the Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies across 3 ⅓ innings during the A's week in Las Vegas.
His performance was especially notable given that the first game played at Las Vegas Ballpark resulted in a 15-14 loss to Milwaukee, where even the best arms in baseball were having trouble keeping the ball in the yard.
From the time that he was called up through the end of the season, Alvarado had the second-lowest ERA on the team with a 2.96, though his FIP would still hover at 4.52. The only pitcher ahead of him in ERA was Mark Leiter Jr., who tallied nine innings before suffering a season-ending hip injury. Alvarado's ERA stretched across 45 ⅔ innings.
The key to success for the big right-hander was simply keeping the walks down. His strikeout rate climbed to 30.3%, while the walk rate was much better at 9.7%.
The biggest difference between Alvarado and Otañez would appear to be that while Otañez had success in 2024, he struggled to a 4.50 ERA on the road that season but excelled at the Oakland Coliseum with a 2.25 ERA.
Alvarado had only pitched at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento as his home venue and found some success there in 2025, posting a 3.42 ERA. Otañez didn't have that Coliseum buffer that helped bring him success the previous season, which is part of why he didn't rebound.
The key for Alvarado in 2027 will be to continue keeping the ball in the zone. If he does, he could end up being the A's closer next season after collecting six saves in 2026.