The A’s may not need to look far for one of the arms that could shape their 2027 season.
If Oakland stays healthy and makes the kind of push that feels possible in a weak AL West, pitching will be a huge part of the equation. The division leaves plenty of room for movement, and the A’s could be staring at an opening if they can stabilize a rotation that looks anything but settled right now.
That uncertainty is where Jamie Arnold enters the picture.
The left-hander is one of the more intriguing pitchers in the organization, and the A’s took him with the No. 11 pick out of Florida State two summers ago. He has the look of a future impact starter, the kind of arm that can change the tone of a staff. MLB.com has him just outside its top 50 prospects at No. 55, and the stuff backs up the buzz: a 55-grade fastball, a 60-grade slider and a 50-grade changeup.
Arnold’s season already showed both promise and frustration. He spent most of the year in Double-A, where he logged 113.1 innings and put up a 3.57 ERA.
Then came the move to Triple-A Las Vegas, where his second start ended when he was hit by a comebacker and injured. That knocked him out for the rest of the season.
Even with that setback, the path forward looks real. A few starts in Triple-A next year could be enough to put him on a debut track in the first half, and a strong Spring Training might even get him into the Opening Day conversation.
The bigger picture around the rotation only makes his timeline more interesting. It’s not clear whether Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs will still be in the mix, and JT Ginn was the only one who proved he could be a great starter for the club last season. Gage Jump could wind up in the bullpen or simply need more development time, while Jacob Lopez has shown flashes of greatness but still has more to prove at the major-league level.
There’s also the matter of the dugout. The Rangers and the A’s are the only two AL West teams expected to keep their managers heading into 2027, but the addition of Taylor Smith means Oakland could still decide to move on from Mark Kotsay. At the same time, it would not feel fair to pin the injury-heavy 2026 season on him, and Kotsay could wind up getting at least one more year.
If the A’s don’t add more than one starter and lose both Severino and Springs, the door opens wider for the organization to turn inward. In that scenario, Arnold could get the call sooner rather than later. And if he does, he has the kind of arm that could make 2027 look a whole lot different.
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Athletics Fans May Not Like Taylor Smiths First Big Test
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For fans hoping for instant roster churn, the calendar may be working against them anyway. The next meaningful wave of movement is not expected until after the World Series, when the transaction season opens and teams can start acting more freely, leaving Smiths early work more likely to happen out of the spotlight than on the back page. [Read more 🡒]