The A’s announced Monday that they’ve claimed righty Gabe Klobosits off waivers from the Nationals and, in a corresponding move, designated outfielder Luis Barrera for assignment. Oakland’s 40-man roster remains at capacity.
Klobosits, a towering 6’8″ right-hander, made his big league debut with the Nationals last season and allowed seven earned runs on 13 hits and five walks with five strikeouts through 11 1/3 innings of relief. He averaged 94.8 mph on his heater during that time and induced chases on pitches outside the strike zone at a gaudy 35.6% clip, both of which surely hold some appeal to the A’s. The former 36th-round pick also posted a brilliant 1.64 ERA with a sizable 28.9% strikeout rate against a respectable 8.8% walk rate in a combined 38 1/3 innings between Double-A and Triple-A last year.
It’s an intriguing profile in the first place, and the fact that Klobosits still has a pair of minor league option year remaining makes it all the more appealing. The Athletics’ bullpen picture is pretty much wide open after the team let several veterans walk and did nothing to reinforce the group via free agency. Klobosits should have ample opportunity to make an impression on the A’s this year.
As for the also-26-year-old Barrera, he’s long rated as one of the better prospects in the Oakland system but has seen his stock dip in recent years. The left-handed-hitting, left-handed-throwing Barrera put the ball in play and drew plenty of walks in Triple-A last year, but he showed minimal power en route to a .276/.348/.393 batting line that checked in at 12% worse than league-average by measure of wRC+. Scouting reports on Barrera peg him as a capable defender at any of the three outfield spots with well above-average speed. He ranked 24th among A’s prospects at Baseball America and 32nd at FanGraphs.
Despite last year’s 10.1% walk rate in Triple-A, however, virtually every report on Barrera cites a need to be more selective at the plate. BA notes that he swung at 48% of the pitches he saw in 2021, which makes that walk rate both remarkable and, quite possibly, anomalous in nature. Still, Barrera has a solid track record up through Double-A, and even if his ceiling is ultimately that of a fourth outfielder, he’s a largely MLB-ready one. Viewed through that lens, it’s rather surprising to see the A’s jettison Barrera in this manner, but the organization must feel fairly confident in its outfield depth beyond him. The A’s will have a week to trade Barrera or try to pass him through outright waivers.
Nice
One of those moves, I like Luis Barrera.
Hope he stays with the A’s…
Hmm… 26 years old, 5.56 ERA, 5 strikeouts, 10.3 H/9 IP. Fits the A’s mold well! Congrats, Mr. Klobosits!
Said by guy a sitting at home and not actually on a field, yep.
If it’s been said once, it’s been said a thousand times.
If you want to post on this site, you better be on a field.
First ones free Steinbrenner.
Lol, touche. I admit it did come off as a nasty jab to Klobosits, but my intent was aiming at the A’s for being (in my perceived notions) cheap. I apologize for downplaying his stats, though.
Do the morons that liked that idiotic comment realize that they, too, are commenting without being “actually on a field”? How dumb.
Ignoring succes in the minors, but mocking his mere 11 appearances in MLB? Nothing wrong with debuting at age 26 after coming out of college and then losing all of 2020 through no fault of his own, plus missed time for TJ surgery.
On the surface, looks like lousy stats.should head to Korea or Japan and rebuild some value or get a job at McDonald’s. Probably pays better than the minors. Should’ve kept barerra or at least dumped skye bolt
Go Klo-Bo, go Klo-Bo!
If every pitcher were judged on just the stats from their first 11 innings in the majors a lot of very good relief pitchers would have never had careers in MLB.
That’s gotta be a weird feeling, to get DFA from the A’s…
Ask Max Muncy…
It’s weird Yusmeiro Petit is still a free agent though
Don’t we already have a similar Pitcher in Triple-A named Wandisson Charles ?
I don’t get this Move. Kind of liked Barrera. I guess we like our Outfield depth with Pinder, Brown, McKinney, Pache, and Piscotty. Laureano is coming back at some point. We also have ” Break Glass in case Needed ” outfielders like Skye Bolt, Cody Thomas and Buddy Reed.
Quite honestly, more concerned with Kevin Smith strking out in 6 of his first 11 at bats. Lets see some Sheldon Neuse at 3B.
Don’t understand DFA’ing Barrera instead of Bolt.
Bolt was just placed on the IL
Bolt is on the disabled list. He can’t be designated for assignment.
Why are the Nationals giving up on a young-ish pitcher like that already? Nice roll of the dice by the A’s.
Its Klobberin time!
Yeah, not sure why Nats let this kid go. He had good minor league stats in 2021 and has less than 1 year of service time. And he’s BIG! 6’8″.
perhaps its payback for Claiming relief pitcher Kyle Finnegan away from the A’s a few years back?
He became a minor league free agent. I remember when drafted baseballamerica ranked him one of the top fast track relievers. Then A’s tried to make him a starting pitcher, did ok in lower minors then stalled and moved back to reliever. He did well in AAA finally but never got a call up
He’s a pretty decent pitcher. High effort delivery, but he sits mid-90’s with his fastball and has an average slider. Killed it last season in the upper minors, and definitely worth a shot in Oakland.
A little surprised they didn’t take a flyer on Ivey as well.
Hell yea!
Too many pimples on the A’s so they got this guy, or maybe they wanna practice the squeeze play a bit more
Wasn’t he in ‘My Big, Fat Greek Bullpen’?