Oakland A’s Player of the Day: Tommy Milone

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Today’s Player of the Day, Tommy Milone, might not even be on the 25 man roster this upcoming season, but I’m doing this piece because I think he will be. Last season Milone had his ups and downs. That paved the way for Sonny Gray to come up and have the success that he did. Where will he be this upcoming season? Let’s take a look!

2013 Pitching

Last season people thought that Milone was going to have an impressive year. He had a good rookie season in 2012, but in 2013 he just fell apart. He started off great. In his first few starts he managed to pick up a few wins, and people thought he was going to be great. Then he had a few rocky starts. Eventually it got to the point where he would only have 1 good start in between 2 or 3 really bad ones. He had starts where he couldn’t even go a full 6 innings. He’d be getting taken out in the 4th inning. Then, right before the All Star Break, he had a really good start that started give fans a glimmer of hope once more.

It was a game against the Kansas City Royals, and Milone had carried a shutout game into the 9th inning. It seemed as if Milone might be getting back on track. Maybe he go on great run after the All-Star break. The A’s were up 6-0 and all Milone needed to do was get the final 3 outs. Then he gave up two straight doubles and eventually the Royals scored 3 runs, with more threatening to score. Balfour was put in and the A’s still got the win, but in that moment I started to wonder what was going on with Tommy Milone. He was eventually sent down to Triple-A and Sonny Gray replaced him in the rotation to the relief of fans everywhere. While Oakland fans are usually nice to their own players, it was hard to stand up for him. And we wanted to win. It left many questions as to what Milone’s future would be.

2014 Pitching

Tommy Milone will only be returning to the rotation if there is more than one injured rotation pitcher. Drew Pomeranz might be the guy they go to if someone in the rotation goes down. If a second starter goes down, then that’s when Milone would be in the rotation. But that doesn’t mean he’ll be in Triple-A. Tommy Milone will be in the bullpen as an innings eater. He will be given a chance and if he falters then he will be sent down to Triple-A. That’s what 2014 has in store for Tommy Milone.