Luis Medina came up as a starter but spent 2026 in the bullpen after Tommy John surgery. Now the A's are weighing a return to the rotation.
Luis Medina had an impressive first year as a relief pitcher — a role he had to take on due to circumstance following Tommy John surgery in 2024, causing him to miss the entire 2025 campaign. He entered the 2026 season out of options and returning from major surgery, so with the righty needing to make the team in some fashion, the Athletics used him as a relief pitcher.
The thought process was pretty simple: He wasn't going to be able to handle the workload of a full season as a starting pitcher due to workload concerns, so the A's had him start out in the bullpen. Over the course of the year, he really settled into his new role and finished as a key late-inning option in manager Mark Kotsay's bullpen.
Medina finished with a 6-3 record and a 3.08 ERA (3.57 FIP) across 73 innings.
During the last week of the season, interim pitching coach Dan Hubbs made an appearance on A's Cast and mentioned the possibility of seeing high-leverage reliever Luis Medina potentially getting a shot to return to the starting rotation in 2027.
While he will still be out of options in 2027, meaning he has to stay on the A's 26-man roster, he now has some innings built up and could feasibly get through perhaps 130 innings or so if he were in the rotation or a lengthier role.
The A's need depth in both the rotation and the bullpen, and the goal this winter is to build up the team's depth on the mound. Getting more innings out of Medina wouldn't be a bad idea.
Athletics Roundtable asked Kotsay and interim GM Dan Feinstein whether Medina has a path to the rotation or is viewed as more locked in as a reliever.
"I had a conversation with Luis [on Sunday] about potentially creating a program for him this winter that will enable him to give more length," Feinstein said. "Whether it's as a starter, or something we can figure out next spring. I know he's expressed interest in it, but we'll have to see how it plays out."
Kotsay said that the one area that Medina would need to really hone in on if he wants to be a starter is pitch efficiency. Part of that related back to the right-hander's 12.3% walk rate this season in relief. He ended up needing 17.4 pitches per inning on average over the course of the season, which works out to just over five innings each time out.
His strikeout rate sat at 29.3%, ranking him in the 89th percentile, but between the high walk rate (9th percentile) and that strikeout rate, that's a lot of pitches going into those plate appearances.
"You can use guys in the bullpen role that have higher walk rates than 8% with strikeout capabilities," Kotsay said. "That's what Luis is. In order for Luis or for [Jack] Perkins to be a sustainable starter, the walk rate has to drop. The pitch efficiency has to be better."
Moving forward, five innings should be seen as the bare minimum for A's pitchers each time out. Anything less tends to burn the bullpen quickly and put the entire team at a disadvantage for days at a time. Showing improvement in 2027 will start in the rotation, and the biggest difference will be guys going deeper into games than they have in recent years.
A's starters ranked 25th in innings pitched in 2026 with 768 ⅓ and finished with a cumulative 32-68 record. That is the 29th-most wins by a team's starters (Colorado had 28) and the second-highest loss total (Colorado had 70).
If the A's feel Medina can be a part of that mix in the rotation, he could get a shot in the rotation next spring. If a return to a starting role doesn't work out, he can always provide crucial innings for the team in the late innings.
