Freddy Tarnok

Tarnok has two very impressive pitches in his mid-90s four-seamer with excellent characteristics and a hammer curveball. His changeup, slider and command lag behind, but an offseason trade to Oakland should buy Tarnok more developmental time as a starter. He has excellent size (6-foot-3, roughly 200 pounds) and can look dominant when everything is working, but consistency has been lacking at times. Tarnok, who had a 3.05 ERA, 1.12 WHIP and 80:22 K:BB in his final 65 innings (14 starts) in the minors last season, has as much strikeout upside as any Athletics starting pitcher. However, he will still need to win a rotation spot this spring, as he is less of a finished product than some of Oakland's other unproven arms. He has two minor-league options remaining and should approach 150 innings this year with good health.