The Oakland A’s have called on several players from their minor league system this season, but it took until Wednesday, May 3, to see the team’s first MLB debut of 2017 — relief pitcher Bobby Wahl.
First, some background on Wahl. He’s a 25-year-old right-hander, drafted in 2013 in the 5th round. Here’s my writeup from his callup yesterday:
Wahl’s calling card is his velocity. MLB Pipeline notes that he can touch 100 mph, and they rank his fastball as a 70-grade on the 20-to-80 scale. That makes it one of the three highest-rated pitches in Oakland’s entire system, along with the fastballs of Frankie Montas and A.