John Fisher Hints at A's New Pitching Direction

In order to contend, the Athletics will need to see improvements from the pitching staff. In 2026 the club held a 5.53 ERA, ranking them 29th in MLB. At home, that ERA ballooned to 6.37. The task ahead will be to figure out which skills will translate to Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, and how to get some of the current crop of arms to take that next step.

During Wednesday's introductory press conference, new president of baseball operations Taylor Smith mentioned that he believes in building a roster that will thrive in a team's home ballpark. He was specifically talking about Las Vegas during that response, so it's unclear how much tailoring the roster will receive for the 2027 season in Sacramento before making the jump to Vegas in 2028. 

"I think that one of our goals is to try and draft well, trade well, and if we can bring in the right kind of arms and we can develop them and make them better," A's owner John Fisher said on Wednesday. "I think that you've seen with the teams that are most successful here, they're not the ones that are having to bring in lots of free agents on the pitching side of things every year. They're teams that develop their pitchers very well, and that's something that we think is a real opportunity for us." 

One of the development strategies we could end up seeing would be less of a reliance on fastballs, which is a trend that has been rolling through baseball the past couple of years. The Boston Red Sox, where Smith was employed before landing the lead role with the A's, have had success with this strategy. 

Of course, the other factor is having the secondary pitches to make the plan work, so adding the necessary roster personnel will be another factor for the A's if this is a path they plan on taking. The A's will also be searching for a new pitching coach this offseason after firing Scott Emerson during the All-Star break. 

Fisher also mentioned on A's Cast that the hiring process has taught him that there is an incredible talent pool in the baseball operations groups.

"The effort and the intelligence that you have of people working to take players and get them better, to be able to draft great players," Fisher said. "To be able to give those players feedback that they need. Oftentimes we look down on analytics, but it's so much more than that, actually. 

"The ones who are doing this right are working closely with the managers. They're working closely with the player development people, with the farm system, with the minor leagues, with the players themselves, to have those players be the best versions of themselves."

During the press conference, Fisher also noted that both the Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers have poured resources into their player operations, not just into payroll. The A's have one of the smallest analytics departments in baseball. 

Based on Fisher's comments, the expectation for the club should be some heavy investment into building out the analytics department of the team to help build that sustained winner they're after. 

One of the first steps along that process could be to hire a general manager to work in tandem with Smith as a second-in-command that supports the new vision for the club. 

Fisher said during the press conference "that's a definite possibility," when asked about hiring a GM in addition to the new president of baseball operations. It did sound as though that hire isn't imminent, however, and may wait until Smith gets his footing within the organization and assesses what the team's needs are.