Elephant Rumblings: Barnett Getting The Start Tonight

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 18: Mason Barnett #63 of the Athletics pitches against the Los Angeles Angels at Sutter Health Park on June 18, 2026 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images) | Getty Images Welcome to Tuesday! The squad got whacked in the first game of their

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Welcome to Tuesday!

The squad got whacked in the first game of their series with the Rays last night, with the bullpen blowing yet another game that the Green & Gold should have won. When you’re up 6-2 in the eighth you don’t expect the final score to be a 10-6 loss. That’s just how this season has gone though. Fitting.

Anyways, the club is in need of a starting pitcher tonight and they’ve has settled on right-hander Mason Barnett:

In a lost season it’s

at least encouraging to see the organization continuing to give their younger players a chance to pitch through their struggles in the big leagues. The former prize that the A’s received from Kansas City in exchange for reliever Lucas Erceg, Barnett has spent the past two years mostly in Triple-A with a few brief stints with the big league club. His first taste of Triple-A last year didn’t yield great results but the then-24 year old righty still managed to make his big league debut with five starts last September. The results, again, weren’t great but plenty of pitchers struggle a bit their first time in The Show and he was still young for a big league pitcher.

This season Barnett technically began in the hunt for a rotation spot but he predictably began the year as depth down in Las Vegas with the Aviators. After ten starts he was brought up to the big league level, where he’s been stashed in the bullpen for the past couple of months. In 14 relief appearances Barnett has been so-so with a 4.74 ERA, dominating in June before taking a step back in July.

A few weeks ago back at the end of July the club sent Barnett back to Triple-A, where he got back into starting with three innings for the Aviators. Evidently the squad just wanted to ease him back into that role as the club soon brought him back up for a “bulk” appearance after that one tune-up in Triple-A.

Barnett’s made two starts for the A’s since: His first was very encouraging as he tossed five full innings against a hot Red Sox club, allowing just three runs in his final inning of work. His most recent appearance? Not so hot as Cincinnati collected six runs off the young righty, though again he seemed to lose steam as he got deeper into the game. Similar to how the Boston game went.

If he’s not fully stretched out by this point that’s understandable considering he was used as a reliever for the past two-ish months. Still, it’s a good thing that the organization is finally giving the 25-year-old a chance. Barnett was considered one of the top pitching prospects in the A’s system as recently as last year, ranking fourth (ahead of Luis Morales) on MLB.com’s top prospects list. He showed improvement in Triple-A this year and finally had some success out of the bullpen in the big leagues. Now the club will be hoping to see him continue to grow into the type of pitcher they’ll need for next year. That all continues tonight against a tough Rays team that looks postseason bound.

We don’t know who will be getting the ball in tomorrow’s game either so like with Barnett we’ll just have to wait and see. Anyone in particular you’d like to see get the nod? Luis Morales perhaps?

First pitch is at 6:40. Have a great one A’s fans.