Ahead of the report date for pitchers and catchers at Spring Training next week, the Athletics added another veteran to their bullpen mix by signing right-hander Scott Barlow to a one-year deal, a source told MLB.com on Friday. The club has not confirmed the deal.
Barlow, 33, posted a 4.21 ERA with 75 strikeouts and 45 walks in 68 1/3 innings with the Reds last season. His 75 appearances were a career high and tied for seventh in MLB. He also performed well when pitching in traffic, stranding 30 of his 39 inherited runners.
The A’s are expected to begin the season with a closer by committee, and Barlow certainly has the experience to factor into ninth-inning duties with 59 career saves under his belt. A veteran of eight big league seasons with the Reds, Padres, Royals and Guardians, Barlow holds a career 3.60 ERA and has been equally tough on righties and lefties, limiting right-handed hitters to a .628 OPS and left-handers to a .714 OPS.
In December, the A’s added veteran Mark Leiter Jr. on a one-year deal. Leiter and Barlow are likely to be part of the late-inning formula for this A’s bullpen, along with Elvis Alvarado, Tyler Ferguson and Michael Kelly, each of whom finished several games for the A’s in 2025.
Barlow, whose four-pitch mix includes a fastball that sits at 92-93 mph and a sweeper as his top putaway pitch, was actually a better pitcher at home (3.47 ERA in 38 games) inside hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park last season than on the road (5.06 ERA in 37 games).
A lot of Barlow’s success comes from his ability to evade hard contact, having ranked in the 96th percentile of all Major League pitchers in average exit velocity (86.2 mph) and the 99th percentile in hard-hit rate (30.5%). Those qualities should help him as he moves into another hitter-friendly environment for his home games at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento.
