Consistent Tucker Healy may be relief option for A’s
Most professional baseball players had a pretty good idea that they’d play somewhere after high school or college.
“He’s got a real heavy sinker, guys don’t square him up very often,” A’s director of player development Keith Lieppman said.
Healy has a career 2.89 ERA - despite putting up an ERA of 8.00 at Sacramento, and in 246 innings, he has allowed 187 hits and 13 homers while recording 334 strikeouts and just 98 walks.
“I just try to hit my spots, I wouldn’t say I’m trying to strike people out,” Healy said.
Like many of the young relievers in camp - a strength of Oakland’s system - Healy isn’t likely to make the Opening Day roster, but given his track record, the right-hander is someone who could be up at some point this season.
Steve Scarsone, who managed Healy at Sacramento and then again at Nashville, said that Healy does have some good deception, which helps him, and, he said, What I really enjoyed about Tucker was his evolution into an end of the game guy, with stuff that doesn’t necessarily play out as a closer - his fastball is 91-92 mph.
Relievers Ryan Madson and John Axford are likely to get eased into Cactus League games.