Trevor Cahill Running Out Of Luck?

Remember last season when Trevor Cahill posted an 18-8 record to go along with a nifty 2.97 ERA and his skeptics pointed to Cahill’s low .238 BABIP and considered his 2010 season as a product of luck?

Well it turns out that they may have been right.

This season, the young righty is having a little trouble replicating the type of success that carried him into Cy Young talk during the 2010 season. The A’s have seen Cahill go 9-10 so far this season, and as of Wednesday, Cahill owns a 3.91 ERA through 24 starts this season.

He started the season in stellar fashion, going 6-0 with a 1.72 ERA in his first eight starts this year. Since then, however, Cahill is 3-10.

Oh yeah, and his BABIP this season is well above the .238 mark he posted last season. Through Wednesday Cahill’s BABIP stands at .278, and its definitely made an impact on Cahill’s ERA. Furthermore, it seems to point out that Cahill might have had a little more luck last season.

At 23 years old, Cahill is still very young, so there’s still some growing up to do as a pitcher. He’s improved his strikeout rate this season (6.6 K/9), but his 3.91 BB/9 has been killing him this season. In 147.1 innings of work this season, Cahill has issued 64 free passes, which is a total that surpasses last season’s total of 63. That’s definitely not good.

Since the All-Star break, Oakland’s pitching staff in general hasn’t been great, as evidenced by Cahill’s 1-3 record and 8.85 ERA since the break. Opponents are hitting .345 off Cahill since the break, and the A’s young righty hasn’t looked sharp at all.

The A’s entered the season with high hopes for their team, especially with their starting pitching. But the A’s should know by now that luck hasn’t been on their side for a while now.