The Athletics announced that they have signed right-hander José Leclerc to a one-year deal. The righty will make $10MM, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Fellow righty Will Klein has been designated for assignment to open a roster spot.
Leclerc, 31, jumps across the American League West. He has spent his entire career with the Rangers up until now. During his time in Texas, he has shown flashes of excellence as a reliever. In general, his career has been defined by a strong ability to get strikeouts but also some poor control.
Overall, he has 360 1/3 innings under his belt to this point, having allowed 3.27 earned runs per nine. His 31.2% strikeout rate is a very strong number but his 13.2% walk rate is much higher than average.
That lack of control has made his performance somewhat inconsistent. He was once the primary closer for the Rangers, having earned 12 saves in 2018 and 14 more the year after. But he missed essentially all of the next two seasons. A right teres muscle tear limited him to just two appearances during the shortened 2020 season. He then required Tommy John surgery in March of 2021, which wiped out that whole year.
Since coming back, he hasn’t been able to retake the closer’s role, with just 12 saves over the past three years combined. However, his control has actually been better lately, at least relative to his own previous performance. He had a 14.9% walk rate as of his Tommy John surgery. Since coming back, he has only walked 11.3% of batters faced. That’s still a high number, as league average is usually in the 8-9% range, but it was a noticeable improvement.
From the start of the 2022 season to the present, he has a 3.36 ERA, 29.2% strikeout rate and, as mentioned, an 11.3% walk rate. His 3.60 FIP and 3.58 SIERA are marginally higher than his ERA, likely because his .271 batting average on balls in play and 76.5% strand rate are a bit on the fortunate side. He also formed a notable portion of the Texas relief corps during their World Series run, tossing 13 2/3 innings with a 3.29 ERA during the 2023 postseason.
His ERA did jump to 4.32 in 2024, but that doesn’t seem to have been his fault. His .314 BABIP was actually on the high side last year. His 30.9% strikeout rate and 11.1% walk rate were pretty close to what he has done before. His 3.48 FIP and 3.26 SIERA both suggest he was pretty similar to the guy he was going into the year.
In addition to the strikeouts, Leclerc has often been good at avoiding…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Oakland Athletics – MLB Trade Rumors…