Barry Zito Promoted By Oakland Athletics

Barry Zito has been promoted by the Oakland Athletics after spending time in Triple-A. Zito could now make a start or two for the Athletics as the 2015 MLB season winds down. A report from CBS Sports states that the team needed to add another starting pitcher after Jesse Chavez suffered a rib injury. Zito had been with Triple-A Nashville and became the best option available.

Zito pitched in 26 games for Nashville this season, making 22 starts during the minor league season. He posted a 3.46 ERA over 138 innings but never got the promotion he was hoping to receive from the Athletics. When the minor league season came to an end, it seemed like his career was also coming to a close. There were no plans to call up Zito, and the Athletics were ready to just let him retire.

This is becoming a great story for the Athletics, and it might even get more people to O.co Coliseum as the season winds down. Always a fan favorite with the team, Barry Zito pitched seven years with the Oakland Athletics before signing a free-agent deal with the San Francisco Giants. He never equaled his success in Oakland with his new team and hasn’t pitched in MLB since the 2013 season.

During his first stint with Oakland, Zito started 222 games, posting a 102-63 record and a 3.55 ERA over 1430 1/3 innings of work. He was a three-time All-Star with the Athletics, pitching in the postseason five times as well. In six ALDS starts, Zito had a 2.43 ERA and 1.01 WHIP that helped the team quite a bit. The Athletics never made the World Series when Zito was on the roster, but he did get a ring with the 2012 San Francisco Giants. During that postseason, he shutout the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS and beat the Detroit Tigers in the World Series.

The Oakland Athletics have 17 games left in the 2015 MLB season, meaning Zito could pitch as many as three of them if the coaching staff allows him to. The A’s have only six more home games, though, with a home stand beginning on September 22 against the Texas Rangers and ending September 27 against the San Francisco Giants. It could certainly be an exciting match-up if the A’s used Barry Zito to pitch in the same game where the Giants use former teammate Tim Hudson. In what could be the final season for both pitchers, that would be a fun way to end their careers.

[Image Source: Christian Petersen/Getty Images]