The Oakland A's have lost of five of their last six games after getting off to a nice 10-7 start to their season. The A's came into this season with very low expectations since they are rebuilding with younger players, but they did hope that their pitching would be a strength.
So far this season, though, that has not been the case, as the A's starters have struggled, and that includes Sonny Gray, who is perennially in the Cy Young conversation. While the majority of the A's starters have struggled so far this season, it does seem like they may be getting some reinforcements soon in the form of Henderson Alvarez.
Alvarez was a very good pitcher for the Miami Marlins in his two seasons there, as he was an All-Star in 2014, but he only pitched in four games with the club last season before requiring major shoulder surgery. After the surgery, the Marlins decided to move on from Alvarez, at which point the A's swooped in and signed Alvarez to a low-risk, one-year deal worth $4.5 million.
The surgery took place last July, so the A's have taken it slow with Alvarez, but he is seriously ramping up his pitching now. The right hander started throwing from a mound in March and faced hitters in the beginning of April. Now, Alvarez is on a rehab assignment, on which he has already made two successful starts.
Through those two starts, Alvarez has a 1.80 ERA while not allowing a single walk in five innings, so the next step is to stretch him out. Over the weekend, Alvarez is expected to pitch four innings, and if his rehab continues to go as smoothly as it has so far, he may be back in the majors by early or mid-May.
Getting Alvarez back to the majors fully healthy would be huge for Oakland, as he is still just 26 years old and has proven that he can be a very good starter in the MLB. Given that he hasn't pitched in a major league game in over a year, he will likely display some rust early, but the rehab assignment should help with that. In his last full season in the majors, Alvarez started 30 games and ended with a 2.65 ERA in 187 innings.
