{"id":17903,"date":"2026-02-15T21:51:42","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T05:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportrelay.com\/mlb\/?p=17903"},"modified":"2026-02-15T21:51:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T05:51:42","slug":"scott-barlow-athletics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportrelay.com\/mlb\/2026\/02\/15\/scott-barlow-athletics\/","title":{"rendered":"New Athletics Reliever Scott Barlow Brings Much-needed Experience to Up-and-coming Unit"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Athletics Reliever Scott Barlow Brings Much-needed Experience<\/h2>\n

MESA, Ariz. (Feb. 12, 15) \u2014 When new Athletics<\/a> reliever Scott Barlow<\/a><\/strong> reported to the team Tuesday, he saw first baseman and 2025 AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz<\/a><\/strong> sitting across the clubhouse from him. Barlow immediately flashed back to September 13, when \u2014 as a member of the Cincinnati Reds<\/a> \u2014 he gave up a towering 496-foot grand slam to Kurtz.<\/p>\n

As Barlow tells it, he said to Kurtz, \u201cOn a clear night, if you look up in the sky, you’ll see this comet. You always see it. That’s that ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

Highs and Lows<\/h3>\n

For any unfamiliar stat, click here to see the Glossary.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Relievers, while constantly striving to retire every batter they face, must also be able to roll with the punches. They will give up home runs, inevitably. Some will barely clear the fence. Others, like the Kurtz blast, will go so far that the ball will never be found. (Author\u2019s Note: Shea Langeliers, who was standing on first for the Kurtz bomb, told me this.) <\/em>As retired pitcher and former manager Bud Black<\/a><\/strong> would say, \u201cThat\u2019s baseball.\u201d Relievers will have highs, and they will have lows.<\/p>\n

From 2020 to 2022, Scott Barlow \u2014 then of the Kansas City Royals<\/a> \u2014 had plenty of highs, culminating in being one of the top closers in the AL. His WHIP improved every year, from 1.200 in 2020 to 1.197 in 2021 and a ridiculous 0.996 in 2022. For reference, the AL averages were 1.323, 1.301, and 1.253, respectively. His scoreless outing percentages (ScOtg%) also improved each year, from 78.1% in 2020 to 78.9% in 2021 and 81.2% in 2022. For reference, the AL averages were 70.3% in 2020, 70.7% in 2021, and 72.0% in 2022. Goose Eggs were also above league average each season, though they fluctuated. For Goose-Egg-to-Broken-Egg Ratio (GE\/BE), league average tends to be around 3.0 every year. Barlow had a 7.0 ratio in 2020 (7-1 GE-BE), 4.5 in 2021 (27-6 GE-BE), and 7.2 in 2022 (36-5 GE-BE).<\/p>\n

What spawned the metamorphosis, according to Barlow, was \u201cgetting to know what makes me good. What makes me good? What am I not good at, and what could I improve on? Sticking to the baseline of what makes me successful. Knowing the key things I need to take into a gameday.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lows<\/h4>\n

But the beginning of 2023 brought some lows. \u201cI lost focus on what makes me good,\u201d Barlow admitted. \u201cWhen I lost sight of that, I started pressing a little bit.\u201d Walks did him in, his percentage increasing from a better-than-league-average 7.6% in 2022 to 12.5% in 2023. This helped drive his WHIP up from 0.996 to 1.552. Not only was this a jump of 0.556, but it brought him from being 0.257 lower than league average to 0.254 higher. His ScOtg% plummeted from 81.2% to 71.1%. Unsurprisingly, his ERA-minus leapfrogged from 54 to 121.<\/p>\n

A Change of Scenery for Scott Barlow<\/h3>\n

Sometimes, when a reliever enters a tailspin, a change of scenery is the remedy. For Scott Barlow, that change of scenery took him from the last-place Royals to the in-the-hunt San Diego Padres<\/a>. While there, he worked with pitching coach Ruben Niebla, who guided him back on track. \u201cWorking with Ruben Niebla was a really great thing, because he would let you know up front what you\u2019re doing wrong. He would look at what makes you successful and bring it to your attention. Then if you lost sight of it, he brought it to your attention.\u201d Barlow added that there were some mechanical problems. He summed up his stint in San Diego as a \u201cfun, fun time. (Ruben) cares so much about every single guy and wants to get you better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the Padres missed the playoffs, Barlow pitched more like his old self. Across 25 appearances, he held opponents scoreless in 20 (80.0%; NL average: 71.2%). His walk percentage was still higher than league average, but it improved by nearly three percentage points (9.8%). However, two other areas improved immensely, ending up much better than league average. His ERA minus dove back to 73, and his WHIP was 1.193 (NL average: 1.332).<\/p>\n

Both Ohio Teams<\/h3>\n

Scott Barlow spent 2024 and 2025 in Ohio. In 2024, he pitched for the Cleveland Guardians<\/a> and manager Stephen Vogt<\/a><\/strong>. Barlow pitched for the Reds and manager Terry Francona<\/a><\/strong> in 2025. Though his seasons were not up to the standards he established for himself in 2022 with the Royals and in 2023 with the Padres, Barlow enjoyed playing for both Vogt and Francona. Of Vogt \u2014 AL Manager of the Year for both \u201924 and \u201825, he said, \u201cPlayer\u2019s manager, for sure. Not too far removed from the game. He was so personable and, like Ruben, cared about every single guy. Even though it was his first time being a manager, I would have never known. It was such a natural transition for him. There are not enough words to show how much respect I have for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the Reds, Barlow saw a distinct difference in the ways Vogt and Francona use and manage their relief corps. Cleveland was more analytical, keeping relievers \u201con your toes\u201d as to when they were going into the game. Cincinnati looked more into which role relievers were working, so \u201cit was pretty consistent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scott Barlow Makes His Postseason Debut<\/h3>\n

Barlow saw his time in Cincinnati end with his first postseason appearance, and it could not have gone any better. After the Los Angeles Dodgers<\/a> had shelled Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene<\/a> <\/strong>(Game One, NL Wild Card Series), Barlow took the mound for the fourth inning with the Reds down, 5\u20130. After striking out the side in a 1\u20132\u20133 fourth, he opened the fifth by retiring Freddie Freeman<\/a><\/strong> on a liner to first. The next batter, Max Muncy<\/a><\/strong>, was also his last \u2014 and he struck him out as well, for good measure. Five batters, five outs. \u201cFirst time pitching in a playoff atmosphere \u2014 that was a lot of fun,\u201d he recalled with a smile. \u201cA lot of things, when adrenaline is pumping, take care of themselves. That was one of those moments.\u201d<\/p>\n

While disappointed that the Reds lost the game and the series, Barlow took an emotional and mental boost from that outing. \u201cGoing into the off-season, after having that under my belt, was really satisfying. Because there are a lot of things that happen in the season. There are ups and downs, trying to be as level as you can. Having that be the exclamation point for the season was, personally, really nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coming to the Athletics<\/h3>\n

So what attracted Scott Barlow to the Athletics? \u201cMan,<\/em> they can hit. Holy cow.\u201d Barlow answered this question with his eyes as big as saucers before telling the Kurtz story. Then he continued, \u201cThe young, offensive side \u2014 I wanna watch that<\/em>. I love watching hitters break. But also, it seemed like \u2014 from the other dugout \u2014 a really fun team to be a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the Athletics, his reputation precedes him. Lefty starter Jeffrey Springs<\/a><\/strong> said, \u201cI feel like he pitches all the time, which is a great thing to have as a reliever.\u201d He added, \u201cHe can really spin the ball\u201d and pointed out how he\u2019s done \u201cmultiple roles for years.\u201d He concluded with, \u201cHe can help some of the other guys back in the bullpen and our pitching staff as a whole. His experience is going to go a long way toward helping us be better as a staff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manager Mark Kotsay<\/a><\/strong> said Wednesday he likes the way Barlow competes. He also likes the experience he has on the back end. Catcher Shea Langeliers<\/a><\/strong> said of Barlow\u2019s sweeper and curveball, \u201cI\u2019d much rather try to catch them than hit them.\u201d Righty reliever Tyler Ferguson<\/a><\/strong> likes Barlow\u2019s experience and said he \u201ccould bring some veteran leadership\u201d to the group.<\/p>\n

Langeliers also pointed out that Barlow was in the 99th percentile for hard-hit balls in 2025. This means he gave up a lower percentage of batted balls with an exit velocity of 95 mph or greater than 99 out of every 100 major league pitchers. On a side note, that makes the Kurtz homer even more impressive, since it was the hardest hit Barlow gave up all season (114.6 mph).<\/p>\n

What the GM Saw<\/h4>\n

General manager David Forst echoed Ferguson, saying Barlow adds \u201csome much-needed experience\u201d to everything. He said, \u201cI like the experience. I think he has more than twice as many career saves as everybody else in our bullpen combined.\u201d (Author\u2019s note: Barlow \u2014 59 saves; everyone else combined \u2014 15 saves.) <\/em>Forst continued, \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re gonna go into the season with a capital C closer. Mark (Kotsay) and Emo (pitching coach Scott Emerson<\/a><\/strong>) did such a good job after we traded Mason (Miller) of putting guys in good positions, mixing it up, so I trust their ability to do that. But it’s always nice to have somebody who has that experience, and Scotty does. He’s continued to have success in any role.\u201d<\/p>\n

Main Photo Credits:<\/h4>\n

MESA, Ariz. (Feb. 12) \u2014 Athletics reliever Scott Barlow throws a bullpen session during spring training workouts at Hohokam Stadium. (Photo by Evan Thompson\/Sport Relay)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Athletics Reliever Scott Barlow Brings Much-needed Experience MESA, Ariz. (Feb. 12, 15) \u2014 When new Athletics reliever Scott Barlow reported to the team Tuesday, he saw first baseman and 2025 AL Rookie of the Year Nick Kurtz sitting across the clubhouse from him. Barlow immediately flashed back to September 13, when \u2014 as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2191,349,1922,988,402,806,2213,1380,287,1881],"class_list":["post-17903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-2026-athletics-season","tag-jeffrey-springs","tag-nick-kurtz","tag-relief-pitching","tag-scott-barlow","tag-shea-langeliers","tag-spring-training-2026","tag-stephen-vogt","tag-terry-francona","tag-tyler-ferguson","pmpro-has-access","eq-blocks"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Athletics Reliever Scott Barlow Brings Experience - Sport Relay<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New Athletics reliever Scott Barlow brings much-needed experience to an effective but inexperienced relief corps.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportrelay.com\/mlb\/2026\/02\/15\/scott-barlow-athletics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Athletics Reliever Scott Barlow Brings Experience - Sport Relay\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New Athletics reliever Scott Barlow brings much-needed experience to an effective but inexperienced relief corps.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportrelay.com\/mlb\/2026\/02\/15\/scott-barlow-athletics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Major League Baseball\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/100088190202878\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/thompsontalks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-16T05:51:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportrelay.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/02\/20260212-Scott-Barlow-1024x771.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"771\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Evan M. 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Thompson, Editor-in-chief","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportrelay.com\/mlb\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sportrelay.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/02\/cropped-Evan-on-field-120x120.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportrelay.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/02\/cropped-Evan-on-field-120x120.jpg","caption":"Evan M. Thompson, Editor-in-chief"},"description":"Evan is the owner and sole contributor of Thompson Talks, a website discussing the Big Four North American Pro Sports as well as soccer. He covered the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2019 to 2023, the Colorado Rockies in 2024, and has covered the Athletics since Spring Training 2025. He also is our National Writer. His first and biggest love is baseball. Evan lives in Gilbert, Arizona and loves history, especially of sports. He is a member of the Hemond Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR). 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