Athletics 2024 Season In Review: JP Sears
Today is the final day of the player review series! We may take a look back on the new guys (Luis Severino, Jeffrey Springs, Gio Urshela) but this final article wraps up all the players that made an appearance for the Oakland Athletics in their final season in the East Bay. Capping it all off we take a look back at second-year starter JP Sears in what was an up-and-down sophomore campaign.
How was he acquired?
Sears found his way to Oakland as part of the return package for former starting pitcher Frankie Montas. That trade with the Yankees also brought over pitchers Luis Medina, Ken Waldichuk, and infielder Cooper Bowman (who was just recently claimed in the Rule 5 draft by the Cincinnati Reds), but Sears was considered the second or even third piece at the time. Ths real prize was the other lefty, Waldichuk. Instead it’s been Sears who has solidified himself as a rotation mainstay for the Athletics.
What were the expectations?
After having what many consider a successful rookie season, lots of fans were hoping to see Sears take a step forward in 2024. While the lefty led the A’s in games started (32), innings pitched (172 1/3), and strikeouts, he also had a less-than-stellar 4.54 ERA and an even worse 5.15 FIP, which can be an indicator of future success. He also led the lead in HBP’s with 16 which is never a fun category to lead the league in. Sears has never been considered a strikeout artist by any means but the hope was that the spacious Oakland Coliseum could help him play up to his abilities to induce weak contact. The hope was for an ERA close to 4.00 while maintaining that durability which was extra valuable to an A’s club ravaged by injuries in ‘23.
2024 Results
Sears came out of the gate slow, getting torched in his first start of the season for five runs in less than four full innings. Things picked up for him for the next couple of months as he pitched to a 3.56 ERA over 11 starts between April and May. The strikeouts still weren’t there but he was keeping his walks down while still having hitters off balance. He looked like he was turning into a mid-rotation piece. In fact the likely highlight of his season had to be in his third start of the season, when he took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning against the Seattle Mariners. It’s the Mariners, yes, but that’s still impressive against a major league lineup.
And then the calendar turned to June. To say he had a tough month would be an understatement. Over 5 games the lefty posted a horrible 7.94 ERA. He gave up nearly as many runs (20) as innings pitched (22 2/3) as the league finally adjusted to him. The walks shot up while his strikeout rate plummeted. You ultimately can’t take out the month of June from his final stat line but if you did he would have had a much better season than he did on paper.
Case in point, he turned it right back on once July arrived. While he suffered his worst month of the season in June, he was looking like a stud in July. Over five starts he posted a 3.07 ERA while vastly boosting his strikeout numbers and at the same time only walking four (!) batters the entire month. He kept it up during August as well, posting an even lower 3.06 mark in more innings pitched. This was the pitcher than A’s fans saw for most of the season.
All those starts and innings did seem to catch up to him at the end as a slumped to the finish line during the month of September. Overall though Sears was an essential part of the Athletics’ starting rotation in 2024. He finished with a 4.32 ERA over 32 starts and 180 2⁄3 innings, leading the team in starts, innings, and strikeouts for the second year in a row.
2025 Outlook
Looking at the starting rotation on paper as of today Sears likely slots in as the team’s #3 starter behind offseason acquisitions Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs. Before adding those Sears would have been leading a young rotation as just a 3rd-year pitcher himself. He profiles much better as a middle starter right now based off his first two seasons of work. That said, Sears can seemingly be counted on to take the ball every fifth day and give his team a chance to win. That’s immeasurably valuable, not only to the Athletics but pretty much every team. It’s why there was early chatter that other teams were calling interested in acquiring the left-hander. The team is ready to start turning the corner in their rebuild though and they plan on having Sears play a big part in that.