Athletics: Jharel Cotton is a Must Own for the Playoffs?

The Athletics are rebuilding as the team sits last in the AL West. One good thing is the performance from Jharel Cotton. Add him to your fantasy team.

The Oakland Athletics continue to find young stars that can help the team for years. Yet, management decides to trade them when they become too expensive in favor of more prospects. While it may happen to Jharel Cotton down the line, he’s still with the A’s know. If you are looking for a playoff streaming option, he is someone to add in his next start.

Cotton joined the Athletics organization as a part of the Rich Hill and Josh Reddick trade. Considering the way both of them have played with their new team, Oakland seems to have won that trade, but that’s a discussion for another day.

The Athletics made a lot of call ups for the final month of the season, the biggest one being Cotton. Looking at his minor league numbers, the A’s have a lot of upside for next year and beyond.

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In his six starts with Triple-A Nashville, he went 3-1 with a 2.82 ERA, 0.913 WHIP and 8.5 K/9. He appeared in 22 games with the Los Angeles Dodgers Triple-A affiliate Oklahoma City. He had a 4.90 ERA, 1.151 WHIP and 11.0 K/9 in that span.

Cotton made his first MLB start against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday. He went 6.1 innings and allowed one run (C.J. Cron solo home run), two hits and two walks while striking out three. The Angels did not start Mike Trout, Albert Pujols and Yunel Escobar, so Cotton’s statline might have looked a little differently if they did.

Cotton’s next start is scheduled to be Tuesday, Sept. 13 against the Kansas City Royals. The Royals offense can be hit-or-miss at times. Over their last six games, they averaged seven runs per game. In the six games before that, they averaged 5.8 runs per game.

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Fantasy owners are not wasting any time. Whether it’s the size or the league or the need of a replacement starting pitcher due to injury, Cotton has been added in 4.6 percent of leagues over the last week.

If Cotton can increase his strikeouts and keep the baserunners to a minimum, he’ll undoubtedly be a must own for the final couple of weeks.