Waldichuk bounces back against Texas: 'Something to build off'

OAKLAND -- In the midst of a rocky first full campaign in the big leagues with more downs than ups, it can be easy to forget that Ken Waldichuk entered 2023 rated as the A’s No. 2 prospect by MLB Pipeline. On Monday night, he provided a reminder of why he was so highly regarded.

Drawing a start against the first-place Rangers, Waldichuk delivered arguably his best outing of the season in Oakland’s 5-3 loss at the Coliseum. The left-hander matched a season-high seven strikeouts across six innings of two-run ball on six hits and one walk.

The outing marked the second time Waldichuk has completed six innings in a start this season and the first such outing since April 12. That inability to pitch deep into games led to him being temporarily moved to the bullpen around mid-May. But the A’s still believe they have a front-end starter in Waldichuk, and his performance against Texas showed why.

“Waldi did a great job tonight,” A’s manager Mark Kotsay said. “That’s the type of performance we know he’s capable of. He did everything really well tonight.”

Waldichuk was nearly flawless his first time through the order, retiring nine of 10 batters faced with five strikeouts. The early success was similar to his previous outing in Los Angeles last week, when he held the Dodgers hitless over the first three innings before things unraveled in a four-run fourth in which he was pulled with two outs.

The fourth-inning woes began to rear their ugly head again on Monday night, as Texas led off with three of their first four batters reaching base. After a mound visit from pitching coach Scott Emerson following Mitch Garver’s two-run double, however, Waldichuk managed to limit the damage to two runs and exit the inning with the A’s holding a one-run lead.

“[Emerson] came out there and just said, ‘Hey, you just have to go after these guys. Keep on throwing it,’” Waldichuk said. “After that, I got two ground balls to Nick [Allen] and that was it.”

In the aftermath of his rough outing against the Dodgers, Waldichuk spent the days in between starts focusing on making adjustments to his changeup, a pitch he only threw seven times on that night and lacked a true feel for. Against Texas, he threw the changeup 22 times and generated 10 swinging strikes and five whiffs with it.

“I think we keep talking about that pitch because the outings that I think he has his most success is when he’s able to command the changeup and utilize it effectively to keep hitters off balance,” Kotsay said. “Tonight, he did that.”

The increased changeup usage allowed Waldichuk’s fastball -- which averaged 93.8 mph and maxed out at 95.7 mph -- to play up. It also serves as a good complement to his wipeout slider, which produced seven whiffs on 16 swings.

“It’s a third pitch that they have to respect,” Waldichuk said of his changeup. “That third pitch, especially if it’s moving a different way, makes them have to respect the other two pitches more. I think it’s crucial for success.”

In a second half that is all about development for a young Oakland pitching staff, these past two starts have presented Waldichuk stern tests in the form of MLB's two highest-scoring offenses in the Rangers and Dodgers. For Waldichuk to rebound from taking his lumps with one of his best outings in quite some time shows the progress that the A’s want to continue seeing from him over these final two months.

“These were both really good lineups,” Waldichuk said. “That trouble in the fourth is a result of me pulling some balls too much over the plate and them taking advantage of them. But being able to have some success against these lineups is something to build off of.”